10 PHP One-Liners That Will Save You Hours of Coding

PHP is a versatile and powerful scripting language, loved by web developers for its simplicity and flexibility. In this article, we showcase 10 PHP one-liners that can make your development workflow smoother and save you hours of coding time. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned developer, these snippets are sure to come in handy.

1. Convert a String to an Array

      $array = explode(',', 'apple,banana,orange');
      print_r($array);
      // Output: Array ( [0] => apple [1] => banana [2] => orange )
      

2. Check if a String Contains a Substring

      echo strpos('Hello World', 'World') !== false ? 'Found' : 'Not Found';
      // Output: Found
      

3. Get the Current Timestamp

      echo time();
      // Output: 1633739182 (varies depending on the current timestamp)
      

4. Create a Simple Autoloader

      spl_autoload_register(fn($class) => require_once "$class.php");
      

5. Fetch Data from a JSON API

      $data = json_decode(file_get_contents('https://api.example.com/data'), true);
      print_r($data);
      

6. Generate a Random String

      echo bin2hex(random_bytes(8));
      // Output: a random 16-character string
      

7. Calculate the Difference Between Two Dates

      $diff = (new DateTime('2024-01-01'))->diff(new DateTime('now'))->days;
      echo "$diff days left till 2024";
      

8. Send a Simple Email

      mail('recipient@example.com', 'Subject', 'Message');
      // Sends a basic email
      

9. Flatten a Multidimensional Array

      $flat = iterator_to_array(new RecursiveIteratorIterator(new RecursiveArrayIterator($array)), false);
      

10. Check if a File Exists

      echo file_exists('example.txt') ? 'File exists' : 'File not found';
      

Conclusion

These one-liners illustrate PHP's flexibility and efficiency. Mastering such concise solutions will not only save you time but also improve your coding efficiency. Do you have a favorite PHP one-liner? Share it in the comments!