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Comparison & Logical Operators

In this lesson, we will look at comparison and logical operators. These operators are used to compare values and to combine multiple conditions.

Comparison Operators​

Here is a list of comparison operators:

OperatorDescription
==Equal to
===Identical to
!=Not equal to
<>Not equal to
!==Not identical to
< Less than
>Greater than
<=Less than or equal to
>=Greater than or equal to

As you saw in the last lesson, we can use these in control structures like an if statement. What I want to do here is just show you some examples of how these work using var_dump. I'm using var_dump over echo because echo won't show 'true' or 'false' if it's a match or not, it will show '1' or '0'. var_dump will show 'true' or 'false'.

$x = 10;
$y = '10';

var_dump($x == $y); // true

var_dump($x === $y); // false

var_dump($x != $y); // false

var_dump($x <> $y); // false

var_dump($x !== $y); // true

var_dump($x < $y); // false

var_dump($x > $y); // false

var_dump($x <= $y); // true

var_dump($x >= $y); // true

Logical Operators​

Logical operators are used to combine multiple conditions. Here is a list of logical operators:

OperatorDescription
andTrue if both are true
orTrue if either is true
xorTrue if one is true
&&True if both are true
||True if either is true
!True if it is not true

Here are some examples to make it clear:

$a = 10;
$b = 20;

var_dump($a == 10 and $b == 20); // true

var_dump($a == 10 or $b == 20); // true

var_dump($a == 10 xor $b == 20); // false

var_dump($a == 10 && $b == 20); // true

var_dump($a == 10 || $b == 20); // true

var_dump(!($x == 5)); // true