[RESOLVED] Compiling question

[Sayian]

When the PHP compiles the scripts when a php file is ran, does it strip all comments and whitespace out of the code?

So if your using a php accelerator, and the accelerator stores the scripts in a "compiled" state, they are stored with no whitespace or comments is this correct?

[bpat1434]

I believe it strips the comments. And I also believe that it depends upon the accelerator. Some may use only one line, others may strip white-space, others may strip everything, others may just obfuscate your code and run that way.

To be truthfully honest, I have yet to see a reason to use an accelerator, unless your application uses 1 file that is 2,000,000,000,000 lines long. It seems a little redundant for those extra 0.02 seconds.

[Weedpacket]

Real accelerators compile the source into Zend VM bytecode and store that. Saves parsing the source again later when the script runs. Many will also through a few bytecode-level optimisations about as well.

[Sayian]

Thanks for the info.