17 Dec 09 PHP Programmer – Logical Operators

PHP allows the use of boolean operators.

AND, OR, XOR and NOT. We can combine NOT with AND and OR to form the NAND and NOR operators respectively.

$a = ($b and $c); will return TRUE if both $b AND $c are TRUE, otherwise, it will return FALSE. This can also be specified as $a = ($b && $c)

$a = ($b or $c); will return TRUE if $b OR $c are TRUE, otherwise, it will return FALSE. This can also be specified as $a = ($b || $c);

$a = ($b xor $c); will return TRUE if $b OR $c are TRUE, but not if they are both TRUE, otherwise, it will return FALSE.

$a = (! $b); will return TRUE if $b is NOT TRUE.

$a = (!($b && $c)); will form NAND (NOT + AND)
$a = (!$b || $c)); will form NOR (NOT+AND);

What use is this to us? Here’s some [hopefully] self explainatory examples:

if ($user_option1 xor $user_option2)
{
//good, do some processing
} else {
echo “You need to select at least one but not both options”;
}

if ($logged_in and $verified_email)
{
//good, do some processing
} else {
echo “You need to log in AND verify your email address before continuing”;
}

if ( ($usertype == “paying”) or ($usertype = “expired”) )
{
//good, do some processing
} else {
echo “You need to be a paying or previously paying user to continue, not a free user.”;
}

Tags: and, bool, boolean, logic, logical operators, nand, nor, or, PHP, php programmer, xor

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