method of echoing variable

kate_mcc_mtl

In reading the Oreily Web Database applications book I came across something I have not yet used. I haven't seen it in the documentation either and am somewhat confused.

I feel rather silly, but I have not seen variables echoed in html in this manner before.

The sample code is as follows :
<?php

// See if the HTTP request has set $count as the
// result of a Cookie called "count"
if(!isset($count)) {
// No cookie called count, set the counter to zero

$count = 0;

// .. and set a cookie with the "start" time
// of this stateful interaction
$start = time( );
setcookie("start", $start, time( )+600, "/", "", 0);

} else {
$count++;
}

// Set a cookie "count" with the current value
setcookie("count", $count, time( )+600, "/", "", 0);

?>
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC
"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd" >
<html>
<head><title>Cookies</title></head>
<body>
<p>This page comes with cookies: Enjoy!
<br>count = <?=$count ?>.
<br>start = <?=$start ?>.
<p>This session has lasted
<?php
$duration = time( ) - $start;
echo "$duration";
?>
seconds.
</body>
</html>

I have not seen variables echoed using <?=$variablename ?> and wonder if it is good practice and where I may find some documentation on it. 😕

thorpe

i dont use it, but some prefer to do things that way. i dont think you'd find much documentation on it though, its just a shortcut.

you know you can break in and out of php whenever you like. eg;

<?php
  echo 'here is some php';
?>
here is some plain text
<?php
  echo 'more php';
?>

the <?= ?> just saves you having to explicilty call echo(). eg;
this is plain text <?='here is php';> and more plain text.

paulnaj

Hi Kate and Thorpe,

As Thorpe says, it's definitely not a good idea to use <?=$var?> instead of <?php echo $var; ?>.

In fact, some servers won't be configured to understand the former at all, whereas the latter will always work.

Paul 🙂

kate_mcc_mtl

Thank you. I was feeling somewhat confused because I have been using php off and on since 1999 and had never used that particular method to echo a variable. Despite searching through many books and lists I hadn't found any references to that particular method.

Thank you again.

kate_mcc_mtl

I was primarily confused because I got that out of O'Reily's Web Database Applications with PHP & MySQL. Having never used that format, I was curious about it and couldn't find any documentation on it.

Thank you again for your responses. I appreciate it.