How to check if strings are equal in PHP?

In this tutorial, you shall learn how to check if given two strings are equal in PHP using Equal-to operator, with example programs.

PHP – Check if strings are equal

To check if two given strings are equal in PHP, use Equal-to operator and pass the two strings as operands.

If both the strings are equal in value, then Equal-to operator returns a boolean value of true, else it returns false.

The boolean expression to check if two strings $x and $y are equal is

$x == $y

This expression can be used in a conditional statement like if, if-else, etc.

Examples

1. Positive Scenario (Equal strings)

In the following example, we take string values: $x and $y, and check if they are equal.

We have take the string values such that they are of equal value. Therefore, based on the program and given values, if-block must run.

PHP Program

<?php
  $x = "apple";
  $y = "apple";

  if ( $x == $y ) {
    echo "strings are equal";
  } else {
    echo "strings are not equal";
  }
?>

Output

2. Negative Scenario (Not equal strings)

In the following example, we take different string values in $x and $y, and check if they are equal.

Since the string values are not equal in value, else-block must run.

PHP Program

<?php
  $x = "apple";
  $y = "banana";

  if ( $x == $y ) {
    echo "strings are equal";
  } else {
    echo "strings are not equal";
  }
?>

Output

Conclusion

In this PHP Tutorial, we learned how to check if two given strings are equal or not, with the help of example programs.