Strings in PHP can be specified in four different ways: single quoted, double quoted, heredoc syntax and (since PHP 5.3.0) nowdoc syntax, the first two of them being by far the most frequently used.

It is important to know the difference between using single quotes and double quotes. In this post we will see the difference between them and which should be used when.

Single quoted strings are the easiest way to specify string. This method in used when we want to the string to be exactly as it is written. When string is specified in single quotes PHP will not evaluate it or interpret escape characters except single quote with backslash (‘) and backslash(\) which has to be escaped.