print vs echo and print_r function use with example

print vs echo

Bonus Point - print_r

echo and print are more or less the same. They are both used to output data to the screen. The differences are small: 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.

About print_r :-

Definition and Usage The print_r() function prints the information about a variable in a more human-readable way.

  
<?php
  $ret = print("hello world");

  print "Return by print function = ".$ret;

  //$ret_echo = echo "hello "; not possible 
 
   echo "No return in echo";

  $var = print_r("hello",true);
  echo $var;

  $a = array("red", "green", "blue");
  print_r($a);
?>

Result above code -

hello world
Return by print function = 1
No return in echo
hello
Array ( [0] => red [1] => green [2] => blue )