It is possible to join strings in PHP and this process is referred to as Concatenation.

Example:

$string1="John";
$string2="Smith";

$joinedString=$string1.$string2;

echo $joinedString;

Notice that we used a . to join the strings. The above will output JohnSmith. Notice that the words JohnSmith have no space in them. To give it a space, do as follows:

$string1="John";
$string2="Smith";
$joinedString=$string1." ".$string2;

echo $joinedString;

The above will now output John Smith.

You can also add to an existing string using .= as follows:

$string ="John";
$string .="Smith";

echo $string;

This will output JohnSmith. To add a space betwen John and Smith,

$string ="John";
$string .=" ";
$string .="Smith";

echo $string;

This will output John Smith. Another way to add a space,

$string ="John";
$string .=" Smith";

echo $string;

This will output John Smith. Note the space before Smith in the second $string.