php interview questions and answers for experienced and Fresher

PHP Interview Questions. This is most frequently asked interview question for fresher and Experienced top 100 Interview Questions which cn help you to crack interview as Fresher and Expeirnced PHP programming Developer. 

1)      What is PHP?

·         PHP is an acronym for "PHP: Hypertext Pre-processor"

·         PHP is a widely-used, open source scripting language

·         PHP scripts are executed on the server

·         PHP is free to download and use

2)      What is a PHP File?

·         PHP files can contain text, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP code

·         PHP code are executed on the server, and the result is returned to the browser as plain HTML

·         PHP files have extension ".php"

3)      Why PHP?

·         PHP runs on various platforms (Windows, Linux, UNIX, Mac OS X, etc.)

·         PHP is compatible with almost all servers used today (Apache, IIS, etc.)

·         PHP supports a wide range of databases

·         PHP is free. Download it from the official PHP resource: www.php.net

·         PHP is easy to learn and runs efficiently on the server side

4)      Why PHP is loosely Typed Language?

·         PHP automatically converts the variable to the correct data type, depending on its value

·         In other languages such as C, C++, and Java, the programmer must declare the name and type of the variable before using it.

5)      Describe PHP Variables Scope:

·         In PHP, variables can be declared anywhere in the script.

·         The scope of a variable is the part of the script where the variable can be referenced /used.

·         PHP has three different variable scopes:-

o    Local (what is Local Variable in PHP?)

o    Global (what is Global Variable in PHP?)

o    Static (what is Static Variable in PHP?)

6)      Difference between PHP echo and print Statements

·         Both are used to output data to the screen.

·         Echo has no return value while print has a return value of 1 so it can be used in expressions. 

·         Echo can take multiple parameters (although such usage is rare) while print can take one argument.

·         Echo is marginally faster than print.

7)      Describe following functions in PHP strings used for?

·         Strl en() - Returns the length of a string.

·         str_word_count() - function counts the number of words in a string.

·         strrev() - function reverses a string.

·         strpos() - function searches for a specific text within a string.

·         str_replace() - function replaces some characters with some other characters in a string

·         for more Function refer link : http://www.w3schools.com/php/php_ref_string.asp

8)      What is PHP Operators?

·         Operators are used to perform operations on variables and values.

·         PHP divides the operators in the following groups:

o   Arithmetic operators

o   Assignment operators

o   Comparison operators

o   Increment/Decrement operators

o   Logical operators

o   String operators

o   Array operators

9)      What is PHP Functions?

·         The real power of PHP comes from its functions; it has more than 1000 built-in functions.

·         A function is a block of statements that can be used repeatedly in a program.

·         A function will not execute immediately when a page loads.

·         A function will be executed by a call to the function.

10)   What is an Array?

·         An array is a special variable, which can hold more than one value at a time.

In PHP, there are three types of arrays:

o   Indexed arrays - Arrays with a numeric index

o   Associative arrays - Arrays with named keys

o   Multidimensional arrays - Arrays containing one or more arrays

11)   What is PHP Global Variables – Superglobals Variables ?

·         Superglobals were introduced in PHP 4.1.0, and are built-in variables that are always available in all scopes

·         Several predefined variables in PHP are "superglobals", which means that they are always accessible, regardless of scope 

·         And you can access them from any function, class or file without having to do anything special.

The PHP superglobal variables are:

·         $GLOBALS

·         $_SERVER

·         $_REQUEST

·         $_POST

·         $_GET

·         $_FILES

·         $_ENV

·         $_COOKIE

·         $_SESSION

12)   How To Avoid $_SERVER["PHP_SELF"] Exploits?

Exploits can be avoided by using the htmlspecialchars() function.

13)   What is the $_SERVER["PHP_SELF"] variable?

The $_SERVER["PHP_SELF"] is a super global variable that returns the filename of the currently executing script.

14)   What is htmlspecialchars() function and why we use it for?

The htmlspecialchars() function converts special characters to HTML entities. This means that it will replace HTML characters like < and > with &lt; and &gt;. This prevents attackers from exploiting the code by injecting HTML or Javascript code (Cross-site Scripting attacks) in forms.

15)   What is Cross-site scripting (XSS)?

Cross-site scripting (XSS) is a type of computer security vulnerability typically found in Web applications. XSS enables attackers to inject client-side script into Web pages viewed by other users.

16)   What is PHP trim() function?

Strip unnecessary characters (extra space, tab, newline) from the user input data

17)   What is PHP stripslashes() function?

Used for remove slash

18)   What does PEAR stands for?

PEAR means “PHP Extension and Application Repository”. It extends PHP and provides a higher level of programming for web developers.

19)   What is the actually used PHP version?

Version 5 is the actually used version of PHP.

20)   How do you execute a PHP script from the command line?

Just use the PHP command line interface (CLI) and specify the file name of the script to be executed as follows: php script.php

21)   What are the correct and the most two common way to start and finish a PHP block of code?

The two most common ways to start and finish a PHP script are: <?php [   —  PHP code—- ] ?> and <? [—  PHP code  —] ?>

22)   How can we display the output directly to the browser?

To be able to display the output directly to the browser, we have to use the special tags <?= and ?>.

23)   What is the main difference between PHP 4 and PHP 5?

PHP 5 presents many additional OOP (Object Oriented Programming) features.

24)   Is multiple inheritances supported in PHP?

PHP includes only single inheritance, it means that a class can be extended from only one single class using the keyword ‘extended’.

25)   What is the meaning of a final class and a final method?

‘final’ is introduced in PHP5. Final class means that this class cannot be extended and a final method cannot be overrided.

26)   How comparison of objects is done in PHP5?

We use the operator ‘==’ to test is two object are instanced from the same class and have same attributes and equal values. We can test if two object are refering to the same instance of the same class by the use of the identity operator ‘===’.

27)    How can PHP and HTML interact?

It is possible to generate HTML through PHP scripts, and it is possible to pass informations from HTML to PHP.

28)    What type of operation is needed when passing values through a form or an URL?

If we would like to pass values througn a form or an URL then we need to encode and to decode them using htmlspecialchars() and urlencode().

29)    How can PHP and Javascript interact?

PHP and Javascript cannot directly interacts since PHP is a server side language and Javascript is a client side language. However we can exchange variables since PHP is able to generate Javascript code to be executed by the browser and it is possible to pass specific variables back to PHP via the URL.

30)    What is needed to be able to use image function?

GD library is needed to be able execute image functions.

31)    What is the use of the function ‘imagetypes()’?

imagetypes() gives the image format and types supported by the current version of GD-PHP.

32)    What are the functions to be used to get the image’s properties (size, width and height)?

The functions are getimagesize() for size, imagesx() for width and imagesy() for height.

33)    How failures in execution are handled with include() and require() functions?

If the function require() cannot access to the file then it ends with a fatal error. However, the include() function gives a warning and the PHP script continues to execute.

34)    What is the main difference between require() and require_once()?

Require() and require_once() perform the same task except that the second function checks if the PHP script is already included or not before executing it.

(same for include_once() and include())

35)    How can I display text with a PHP script?

Two methods are possible:

<!--?php echo "Method 1"; print "Method 2"; ?-->

36)    How can we display information of a variable and readable by human with PHP?

To be able to display a human-readable result we use print_r().

37)    How is it possible to set an infinite execution time for PHP script?

The set_time_limit(0) added at the beginning of a script sets to infinite the time of execution to not have the PHP error ‘maximum execution time exceeded’.It is also possible to specify this in the php.ini file.

38)    What does the PHP error ‘Parse error in PHP – unexpected T_variable at line x’ means?

This is a PHP syntax error expressing that a mistake at the line x stops parsing and executing the program.

39)    What should we do to be able to export data into an Excel file?

The most common and used way is to get data into a format supported by Excel. For example, it is possible to write a .csv file, to choose for example comma as separator between fields and then to open the file with Excel.

40)    What is the function file_get_contents() usefull for?

file_get_contents() lets reading a file and storing it in a string variable.

41)    How can we connect to a MySQL database from a PHP script?

To be able to connect to a MySQL database, we must use mysql_connect() function as follows:

<!--?php $database = mysql_connect("HOST", "USER_NAME", "PASSWORD"); mysql_select_db("DATABASE_NAME",$database); ?-->

42)    What is the function mysql_pconnect() usefull for?

mysql_pconnect() ensure a persistent connection to the database, it means that the connection do not close when the the PHP script ends.

43)    How the result set of Mysql be handled in PHP?

The result set can be handled using mysql_fetch_array, mysql_fetch_assoc, mysql_fetch_object or mysql_fetch_row.

44)    How is it possible to know the number of rows returned in result set?

The function mysql_num_rows() returns the number of rows in a result set.

45)    Which function gives us the number of affected entries by a query?

mysql_affected_rows() return the number of entries affected by an SQL query.

46)    What is the difference between mysql_fetch_object() and mysql_fetch_array()?

The mysql_fetch_object() function collects the first single matching record where mysql_fetch_array() collects all matching records from the table in an array.

47)    How can we access the data sent through the URL with the GET method?

In order to access the data sent via the GET method, we you use $_GET array like this:

www.url.com?var=value
$variable = $_GET[“var”]; this will now contain ‘value’

48)    How can we access the data sent through the URL with the POST method?

To access the data sent this way, you use the $_POST array.

Imagine you have a form field called ‘var’ on the form, when the user clicks submit to the post form, you can then access the value like this:

$_POST[“var”];

49)    How can we check the value of a given variable is a number?

It is possible to use the dedicated function, is_numeric() to check whether it is a number or not.

50)    How can we check the value of a given variable is alphanumeric?

It is possible to use the dedicated function, ctype_alnum to check whether it is an alphanumeric value or not.

51)     How do I check if a given variable is empty?

If we want to check whether a variable has a value or not, it is possible to use the empty() function.

39) What does the unlink() function means?

The unlink() function is dedicated for file system handling. It simply deletes the file given as entry.

40) What does the unset() function means?

The unset() function is dedicated for variable management. It will make a variable undefined.

41) How do I escape data before storing it into the database?

addslashes function enables us to escape data before storage into the database.

42) How is it possible to remove escape characters from a string?

The stripslashes function enables us to remove the escape characters before apostrophes in a string.

43) How can we automatically escape incoming data?

We have to enable the Magic quotes entry in the configuration file of PHP.

44) What does the function get_magic_quotes_gpc() means?

The function get_magic_quotes_gpc() tells us whether the magic quotes is switched on or no.

45) Is it possible to remove the HTML tags from data?

The strip_tags() function enables us to clean a string from the HTML tags.

46) what is the static variable in function useful for?

A static variable is defined within a function only the first time and its value can be modified during function calls as follows:

<!--?php function testFunction() { static $testVariable = 1; echo $testVariable; $testVariable++; } testFunction();        //1 testFunction();        //2 testFunction();        //3 ?-->

47) How can we define a variable accessible in functions of a PHP script?

This feature is possible using the global keyword.

48) How is it possible to return a value from a function?

A function returns a value using the instruction ‘return $value;’.

49) What is the most convenient hashing method to be used to hash passwords?

It is preferable to use crypt() which natively supports several hashing algorithms or the function hash() which supports more variants than crypt() rather than using the common hashing algorithms such as md5, sha1 or sha256 because they are conceived to be fast. hence, hashing passwords with these algorithms can vulnerability.

50) Which cryptographic extension provide generation and verification of digital signatures?

The PHP-openssl extension provides several cryptographic operations including generation and verification of digital signatures.

51) How a constant is defined in a PHP script?

The define() directive lets us defining a constant as follows:

define (“ACONSTANT”, 123);

52) How can you pass a variable by reference?

To be able to pass a variable by reference, we use an ampersand in front of it, as follows $var1 = &$var2

53) Will a comparison of an integer 12 and a string “13” work in PHP?

“13” and 12 can be compared in PHP since it casts everything to the integer type.

54) How is it possible to cast types in PHP?

The name of the output type have to be specified in parentheses before the variable which is to be cast as follows:

* (int), (integer) – cast to integer

* (bool), (boolean) – cast to boolean

* (float), (double), (real) – cast to float

* (string) – cast to string

* (array) – cast to array

* (object) – cast to object

55) When a conditional statement is ended with an endif?

When the original if was followed by : and then the code block without braces.

56) How is the ternary conditional operator used in PHP?

It is composed of three expressions: a condition, and two operands describing what instruction should be performed when the specified condition is true or false as follows:

Expression_1 ? Expression_2 : Expression_3;

57) What is the function func_num_args() used for?

The function func_num_args() is used to give the number of parameters passed into a function.

58) If the variable $var1 is set to 10 and the $var2 is set to the character var1, what’s the value of $$var2?

$$var2 contains the value 10.

59) What does accessing a class via :: means?

:: is used to access static methods that do not require object initialization.

60) In PHP, objects are they passed by value or by reference?

In PHP, objects passed by value.

61) Are Parent constructors called implicitly inside a class constructor?

No, a parent constructor have to be called explicitly as follows:

parent::constructor($value)

62) What’s the difference between __sleep and __wakeup?

__sleep returns the array of all the variables that need to be saved, while __wakeup retrieves them.

63) What is faster?

1- Combining two variables as follows:

$variable1 = ‘Hello ‘;

$variable2 = ‘World’;

$variable3 = $variable1.$variable2;

Or

2- $variable3 = “$variable1$variable2”;

$variable3 will contain “Hello World”. The first code is faster than the second code especially for large large sets of data.

64) what is the definition of a session?

A session is a logical object enabling us to preserve temporary data across multiple PHP pages.

65) How to initiate a session in PHP?

The use of the function session_start() lets us activating a session.

66) How is it possible to propagate a session id?

It is possible to propagate a session id via cookies or URL parameters.

67) What is the meaning of a Persistent Cookie?

A persistent cookie is permanently stored in a cookie file on the browser’s computer. By default, cookies are temporary and are erased if we close the browser.

68) When sessions ends?

Sessions automatically ends when the PHP script finishs executing, but can be manually ended using the session_write_close().

69) What is the difference between session_unregister() and session_unset()?

The session_unregister() function unregister a global variable from the current session and the session_unset() function free all session variables.

70) What does $GLOBALS means?

$GLOBALS is associative array including references to all variables which are currently defined in the global scope of the script.

71) What does $_SERVER means?

$_SERVER is an array including information created by the web server such as paths, headers, and script locations.

72) What does $_FILES means?

$_FILES is an associative array composed of items sent to the current script via the HTTP POST method.

73) What is the difference between $_FILES[‘userfile’][‘name’] and $_FILES[‘userfile’][‘tmp_name’]?

$_FILES[‘userfile’][‘name’] represents the original name of the file on the client machine,

$_FILES[‘userfile’][‘tmp_name’] represents the temporary filename of the file stored on the server.

74) How can we get the error when there is a problem to upload a file?

$_FILES[‘userfile’][‘error’] contains the error code associated with the uploaded file.

75) How can we change the maximum size of the files to be uploaded?

We can change the maximum size of files to be uploaded by changing upload_max_filesize in php.ini.

76) What does $_ENV means?

$_ENV is an associative array of variables sent to the current PHP script via the environment method.

77) What does $_COOKIE means?

$_COOKIE is an associative array of variables sent to the current PHP script using the HTTP Cookies.

78) What does the scope of variables means?

The scope of a variable is the context within which it is defined. For the most part all PHP variables only have a single scope. This single scope spans included and required files as well.

79) what the difference between the ‘BITWISE AND’ operator and the ‘LOGICAL AND’ operator?

$a and $b:    TRUE if both $a and $b are TRUE.

$a & $b:        Bits that are set in both $a and $b are set.

80) What are the two main string operators?

The first is the concatenation operator (‘.’), which returns the concatenation of its right and left arguments. The second is (‘.=’), which appends the argument on the right to the argument on the left.

81) What does the array operator ‘===’ means?

$a === $b TRUE if $a and $b have the same key/value pairs in the same order and of the same types.

82) What is the differences between $a != $b and $a !== $b?

!= means inequality (TRUE if $a is not equal to $b) and !== means non-identity (TRUE if $a is not identical to $b).

83) How can we determine whether a PHP variable is an instantiated object of a certain class?

To be able to verify whether a PHP variable is an instantiated object of a certain class we use instanceof.

84) What is the goto statement useful for?

The goto statement can be placed to enable jumping inside the PHP program. The target is pointed by a label followed by a colon, and the instruction is specified as a goto statement followed by the desired target label.

85) what is the difference between  Exception::getMessage and Exception::getLine ?

Exception::getMessage lets us getting the Exception message and Exception::getLine lets us getting the line in which the exception occurred.

86) What does the expression Exception::__toString means?

Exception::__toString gives the String representation of the exception.

87) How is it possible to parse a configuration file?

The function parse_ini_file() enables us to load in the ini file specified in filename, and returns the settings in it in an associative array.

88) How can we determine whether a variable is set?

The boolean function isset determines if a variable is set and is not NULL.

89) What is the difference between the functions strstr() and stristr()?

The string function strstr(string allString, string occ) returns part of allString from the first occurrence of occ to the end of allString. This function is case-sensitive. stristr() is identical to strstr() except that it is case insensitive.

90) what is the difference between for and foreach?

for is expressed as follows:

for (expr1; expr2; expr3)

statement

The first expression is executed once at the beginning. In each iteration, expr2 is evaluated. If it is TRUE, the loop continues and the statements inside for are executed. If it evaluates to FALSE, the execution of the loop ends. expr3 is tested at the end of each iteration.

However, foreach provides an easy way to iterate over arrays and it is only used with arrays and objects.

91) Is it possible to submit a form with a dedicated button?

It is possible to use the document.form.submit() function to submit the form. For example: <input type=button value=”SUBMIT” onClick=”document.form.submit()”>

92) What is the difference between ereg_replace() and eregi_replace()?

The function eregi_replace() is identical to the function ereg_replace() except that it ignores case distinction when matching alphabetic characters.

93) Is it possible to protect special characters in a query string?

Yes, we use the urlencode() function to be able to protect special characters.

94) What are the three classes of errors that can occur in PHP?

The three basic classes of errors are notices (non-critical), warnings (serious errors) and fatal errors (critical errors).

95) What is the difference between characters \034 and \x34?

\034 is octal 34 and \x34 is hex 34.

96) How can we pass the variable through the navigation between the pages?

It is possible to pass the variables between the PHP pages using sessions, cookies or hidden form fields.

97) Is it possible to extend the execution time of a php script?

The use of the set_time_limit(int seconds) enables us to extend the execution time of a php script. The default limit is 30 seconds.

98) Is it possible to destroy a cookie?

Yes, it is possible by setting the cookie with a past expiration time.

99) What is the default session time in php?

The default session time in php is until closing of browser

100) Is it possible to use COM component in PHP?

Yes, it’s possible to integrate (Distributed) Component Object Model components ((D)COM) in PHP scripts which is provided as a framework.