The 3 different equals

You have = the assignment operator, == the 'equal' comparison operator and === the 'identical' comparison operator.

$a = $b     Assign      Sets $a to be equal to $b.
$a == $b    Equal       TRUE if $a is equal to $b.
$a === $b   Identical   TRUE if $a is equal to $b, and they are of the same type. (introduced in PHP 4)

For more info on the need for == and ===, and situations to use each, look at the docs.

• = is the assignment operator
• == is the comparison operator (checks if two variables have equal values)
• === is the identical comparison operator (checks if two variables have equal values and are of the same type).