Strings | Learn Computer Academy

Strings

A string is text — a sequence of characters wrapped in quotes. Strings are one of the most-used data types, since almost every program deals with text somewhere: names, messages, file paths, URLs.

Creating a string

let greeting = "Hello, world!";
let single = 'Single quotes work too';

<?php
$greeting = "Hello, world!";
$single = 'Single quotes work too';

greeting = "Hello, world!"
single = 'Single quotes work too'

Joining strings

let first = "Ada";
let last = "Lovelace";
let fullName = first + " " + last;

console.log(fullName); // "Ada Lovelace"

<?php
$first = "Ada";
$last = "Lovelace";
$fullName = $first . " " . $last;

echo $fullName; // "Ada Lovelace"

first = "Ada"
last = "Lovelace"
full_name = first + " " + last

print(full_name)  # "Ada Lovelace"

Useful string properties and methods

Method	What it does	Example
`.length`	Number of characters	"hello".length → 5
`.toUpperCase()`	Converts to uppercase	"hi".toUpperCase() → "HI"
`.includes(x)`	Checks if text contains x	"hello".includes("ell") → true
`.slice(a, b)`	Extracts part of a string	"hello".slice(0, 3) → "hel"

Template literals

Backticks let you embed variables directly inside a string, instead of joining pieces with +.

let name = "Ada";
let age = 28;

console.log(`${name} is ${age} years old.`);
// "Ada is 28 years old."

<?php
$name = "Ada";
$age = 28;

echo "$name is $age years old.";
// "Ada is 28 years old."

name = "Ada"
age = 28

print(f"{name} is {age} years old.")
# "Ada is 28 years old."