What are helpers in PHP?

Helpers in PHP, as the name suggests, help in performing tasks. They are functions or classes that provide the functionality of common operations or shortcuts for commonly used functions.

Helpers are not built-in features of PHP. They are usually created as separate files, which are then included in the PHP code where they are required. Each helper file is a collection of functions of a particular type.

Types of PHP helpers

Here are a few examples of common types of helpers in PHP:

  • Array helpers perform operations on arrays

  • File helpers perform operations on files

  • URL helpers perform URL-related operations

  • String helpers perform operations on strings.

Code example

Let's go through a simple example of String helpers:

main.php
str.php
<?php
function length($string) {
    return strlen($string);
}
function concatenate($string1, $string2) {
    return $string1 . $string2;
}
?>

Code explanation

  • In str.php, there are two functions: length() and concatenate().

    • length() returns the length of the given string.

    • concatenate() returns two strings merged.

  • In main.php, we are calling str.php helper file and executing both length() and concatenate() functions.

Conclusion

Helpers are supposed to be functions that make a task convenient and reusable. Whenever a task needs to be executed, these helpers are called instead of writing the whole code again.

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