why do php variables need to be identified by $?
<blockquote>
  <p><strong>Possible Duplicate:</strong><br>
  <a href="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2257460/why-does-php-have-a-sign-in-front-of-variables">Why does PHP have a $ sign in front of variables?</a>  </p>
</blockquote>



<p>In languages like bash and Perl, strings need not be quoted and that is why variable access needs to be identified by using $. Why does PHP need the similar mechanism?</p>
