the use of <? vs. <?php

[madeout]

I've been using <? to invoke the PHP parser. Something I read recently, suggested, though, that it's much safer (especially if XML is going to be used) to use the more verbose <?php.
To what extent is this a concern? Thanx.

[Anon]

1. <? echo ("this is the simplest, an SGML processing instruction\n"); ?>

2. <?php echo("if you want to serve XHTML or XML documents, do like this\n"); ?>

3. <script language="php">
   echo ("some editors (like FrontPage) don't
   like processing instructions");
   </script>

4. <% echo ("You may optionally use ASP-style tags"); %>
   <%= $variable; # This is a shortcut for "<%echo .." %>

*** From php.net

In other words use <?PHP since it is inclusive and carries no know proformance hit.

Peace

COPE