FAQ: Booleans and Comparison Operators - User Input: readline()

This community-built FAQ covers the “User Input: readline()” exercise from the lesson “Booleans and Comparison Operators”.

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FAQs on the exercise User Input: readline()

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Why don’t these run the same? The first is my answer to the exercise, the second is the official solution. I don’t see any reason why they wouldn’t work the same way. Can anybody help?

echo “Hello, there. What’s your first name?\n”;
$first_name = readline(">> “);
if (strlen(first_name) > 8) { echo "Hi, {first_name}. That’s a long name.”;
} elseif (strlen(first_name) > 3) { echo "Hi, {first_name}.";
} else {
“Hi, ${first_name}. That’s a short name.”;
}

__________ Official Solution __________________

echo “Hello, there. What’s your first name?\n”;

$name = readline(">> ");

$name_length = strlen($name);

if (name_length > 8) { echo "Hi, {name}. That’s a long name.";
} elseif (name_length > 3) { echo "Hi, {name}.";
} else {
echo “Hi, ${name}. That’s a short name.”;
}

They would produce the same result. Both are correct.

Except for the missing $ here and there.

Do you remember the error message that you received?

Edit : found it.

I copy/pasted your code.

On the first line : $first_name = readline(">> “);

The second double-quote is what’s causing the problem. Now I’m not sure how you got that. But that double-quote needs to look like the first one.

Edit 2 :

Nope. Not just on that first line actually.

Here as well : "Hi, {first_name}. That’s a long name.”;

And here : “Hi, ${first_name}. That’s a short name.”;

1 Like

How weird! Not sure how that happened at all. Thanks for your help!

1 Like

So, I noticed I could still get the code to run with or without the {} around the variable name when it was in the middle of the string.

if (name_length > 8) { echo "Hi, {name}. That’s a long name.";
} elseif (name_length > 3) { echo "Hi, {name}.";
} else {
echo “Hi, ${name}. That’s a short name.”;
}

Here’s mine:

if ($name_length > 8) {
echo “Hi, $first_name. That’s a long name.”;
} elseif ($name_length > 3) {
echo “Hi, $first_name.”;
} else {
echo “Hi, $first_name. That’s a short name.”;
}

How do I know whether I need to use those curly brackets around a variable like $first_name?

Why cant we use switch in this scenario?

<?php
namespace Codecademy;

echo "Hello, there. What's your first name?\n";
$name = readline(">> ");

$nameL = strlen($name)
switch ($nameL) {
  case $nameL > 8:
    echo "Hi, $name. That's a long name.";
    break;
  case $nameL >= 4:
    echo "Hi, $name.";
    break;
  case $nameL >= 3:
    echo "Hi, $name. That's a short name.";
    break;
}

Its giving me the following error:

ParseError: syntax error, unexpected ‘switch’ (T_SWITCH)

/home/ccuser/workspace/php-readline-src/src/index.php:8

Hey there, @theycallmeholla. Welcome back to the forums, it’s been a while!

Well, you could, I suppose (even though that’s not exactly what’s required by the exercise).

You forgot a semi-colon at the end of $nameL = strlen($name), though. Hence the error.

When I run this code:

<?php
namespace Codecademy;

echo "Hello, there. What's your first name?\n";
$first_name = readline(">>");
$name_length = strlen($first_name);
if ($name_length > 8) {
  echo "Hi, ${first_name}. That's a long name.";
}elseif ($name_length > 3) {
  echo "Hi, ${first_name}.";
} else {
  "Hi, ${first_name}. That's a short name.";
}

I get an error saying " If their name is between 4 and 8 characters (inclusive), your program should print: Hi, [NAME]. For example, if the user input was Alexis your program should print: Hi Alexis."
I have no idea why I am getting this.

This is the official solution:

<?php
namespace Codecademy;

echo "Hello, there. What's your first name?\n";  

$name = readline(">> ");

$name_length = strlen($name);

if ($name_length > 8) {
  echo "Hi, ${name}. That's a long name.";
} elseif ($name_length > 3) {
  echo "Hi, ${name}.";
} else {
  echo "Hi, ${name}. That's a short name.";
}

Can any one help, please?

you forgot to echo there

The console works properly with this, but it’s not accepted as the solution:

<?php
namespace Codecademy;

echo "Hello, there. What's your first name?\n";
$name = readline(">> ");
if (strlen($name) > 8) {
  echo "Hi $name. That's a long name.";
} 
elseif (strlen($name) >= 4) {
  echo "Hi, $name.";
}
else  {
 echo "$name. That's a short name.";
}
  

1 Like

Little bit confused, I can’t get this to pass and the reason I am being given isn’t true. It says, entering ‘Alexis’ should return a response of ‘Hi Alexis’. The thing is it does that.

.

I’m just going to try to move on by replacing my code with the solution (hopefully this will work), but thought it worth mentioning.

Hi, why are we using {} to call the variable? I don’t remember this being explained before, and is not even used on the description example. Some information is missing here.

When I was doing this one I kept getting that same error until I hit the run button in the code editor section. Then it worked fine.

I came here with the same issues.
Perhaps clicking the run button would have solved it.

My output looked good.

Mine:

if($name_length  > 8){
    echo "Hi, " . $name . ". That's a long name.\n";
  }
  elseif($name_length  > 3){
    echo "Hi, " . $name . ".\n";
  }
  else{
    echo "Hi, " . $name . ". That's a short name.\n";
  }

But the extra confusing part that lead me on a goose chase was the error popup.
It needs correcting.
Screenshot 2023-05-05 110415

There is ambiguity, the correct answer is “Hi, Alexis.” But the error text includes a “Hi Alexis.” which omits the comma.

Same problem I’m experiencing. Frustrating!
I did learn about this string interpolation form: ${var} (complex syntax)
This was deprecated at some point, but I didn’t verify which release.
I’m moving on as well - hope I don’t keep encountering this kind of problem where my code runs, but the lesson module is broken.