differneces between <?php echo and <?=

[themaxx113]

Hi,
is there anybody who can tell me the differences between

<? echo

and

<?=

Are there any? And which one is better to use?

Thanks,
Greetings,
MaXx

[bastien]

nothing, long and short forms

[tsinka]

Hi,

there is one problem with <?=

This only works if short_open_tags is enabled in php.ini. If that option is disabled then <?=$avar; ?> will not work.

Also note that you'll run into problems if you have XML code in your script with short_open_tags enabled.

<?xml .... ?>
<?PHP
echo 'something';
?>

That causes problems because PHP tries to interpret the <?xml ... ?> line. In that case do something like

<?PHP
echo '<?xml ....?>';
echo 'something';
?>

This is very important if you have e.g. xhtml files.

So in order to make sure that your scripts run on all servers regardless on that setting always use <?PHP .... ?>

Thomas

[rehfeld]

personally, i think short tags in general are a bad habit, and dont ever use them

this is much more clear, and will never fail
<?php echo $var; ?>

opposed to
<?=$var?>

or even
<?php=$var?>

[themaxx113]

Hey guys,

thanks a lot for your support!
That was exactly what i was looking for!

Greetings,
MaXx