PHP also provides an operator that might be less familiar: modulo (%
). The modulo operator returns the remainder after the left operand is divided by the right operand.
echo 7 % 3; // Prints: 1
In the code above, 7 % 3
returns 1
. Why? We’re trying to fit 3
into 7
as many times as we can. 3
fits into 7
at most twice. What’s left over—the remainder—is 1
, since 7
minus 6
is 1
.
The modulo operator will convert its operands to integers before performing the operation. This means 7.9 % 3.8
will perform the same calculation as 7 % 3
—both operations will return 1
.
Let’s look at another example of the modulo operator in action:
$num_cookies = 27; $cookies_per_serving = 4; $leftover_cookies = $num_cookies % $cookies_per_serving; echo $leftover_cookies; // Prints: 3
Let’s practice using modulo!
Instructions
We have 82 students going on a class trip. We want to divide the students into groups of 6. Use the modulo operator to echo
how many students will be left without groups.