Ace the Zend Certified PHP Engineer Challenge 2026 – Power Up Your PHP Skills!

To determine the value of the variable \( a \) after executing the provided code, let's break down each step of the code execution:

1. The initial assignment \( a = 1 \) sets the variable \( a \) to 1.

2. The next operation is \( ++$a \). This pre-increment operator increases the value of \( a \) by 1 before it is used in subsequent operations. So, \( a \) becomes 2.

3. The operation \( $a *= $a \) is equivalent to \( $a = $a \times $a \). At this point, \( a \) is 2, so the operation becomes \( a = 2 \times 2 \). Hence, \( a \) is updated to 4.

4. Finally, the expression \( echo $a-- \) outputs the current value of \( a \), which is 4, and then decreases \( a \) by 1 after the value has been echoed. Therefore, the value of \( a \) after this line executes will be 3, but the echoed value is 4.

Now, the final value of \( a \) after all operations (considering the decrement