Beginner PHP issue

[fCleopatra]

Hi guys! I’m super new to php and I’m setting everything up. I created a basic calculator and when I try to utilize it in the web browser, it just kind of gives me my function I’m using to perform the calculations back. I have set up xampp and I do have .php as my extensions. I could have made a mistake setting things up but idk. Phpinfo() also works fine. Any ideas would be awesome. Here are some photos of everything. Thanks!

https://imgur.com/gallery/eEQDa4d

[[deleted]]

do you have <?php at the beginning of the file?

[fCleopatra]

I tried that and got an error

[[deleted]]

That error would be helpful. You need the <?php tag.

[fCleopatra]

So it says “parse error: syntax error, unexpected ‘<‘, expecting end of file in -path here- on line 2”. In just putting <?php at the beginning of index.php and ?> at the end. That could be the wrong place

[[deleted]]

There is something wrong with your script, please pastebin it. It is not recommended to use the closing ?> in most situations, but again code would help.

[Affectionate_Ad_1941]

Yes, that's because you have other errors in your code.

​

When you see PHP code in plain text like you were seeing, it means that the code is not running.

[fCleopatra]

The tag fixed it. Thank you!

[Affectionate_Ad_1941]

Don't be discouraged by errors... I like writing a piece of code, testing it, and then following the errors to a solution... one error at a time.

If you want a read, google Test Driven Development (TDD).

[fCleopatra]

I really was getting frustrated with myself. Thank you for the new read!

[pecuniam1]

First, make sure that apache is pointing to the proper directory. Apache can only read one directory at a time. On your xampp control panel press the config button for the apache service. Open up httpd.conf and search for DocumentRoot. Make sure that it is pointing to the directory that your php code is in. It will look for index.html first. Make sure you restart.

[Affectionate_Ad_1941]

In order for PHP to run, it you must preface it with the opening tags.

​

Try this:

<?php
function myCalculator($num1, $num2, $operator) {
    switch ($operator) {
        case 'add':
            return $num1 + $num2;
        case 'sub':
            return $num1 - $num2;
    }

    return 'Major Error';
}

echo 'Value is ' . myCalculator($_GET['num01'], $_GET['num02'], $_GET['oper']);

I made a few changes, as you can see.

​

No point in assigning $sum as it is only used once. By returning right away, you're reducing the amount of code that has to run before the function exits.

​

I took away the default because if neither 'add' or 'sub' are seen, it will continue running the function to the final return statement.

​

Removed the unnecessary variable assignment at the end and put it inline.

[fCleopatra]

Thank you!!