is there an echo shortcut?

Anon

in asp i can

<%="hello world"%>

or <% response.write("hello world") %>

is there a short cut to doing

<? echo 'hello world'; ?> in php?

Anon

http://php.he.net/manual/en/language.basic-syntax.php

I believe it is <?=$variable?> or <?="string"?> (I'm not sure if the semicolon is required or not, but i'm thinking it isn't).

Hope this helps.

-Josh

Anon

thank you. this is very interesting.
i tried it. i must have forgotten the semicolon. this works though.
thanks again.

<? echo ("this is the simplest, an SGML processing instruction\n"); ?>
<?= expression ?> This is a shortcut for "<? echo expression ?>"
<?php echo("if you want to serve XHTML or XML documents, do like this\n"); ?>
<script language="php">
echo ("some editors (like FrontPage) don't
like processing instructions");
</script>
<% echo ("You may optionally use ASP-style tags"); %>
<%= $variable; # This is a shortcut for "<%echo .." %>

[deleted]

This is getting silly... a shortcut that saves three characters.. I've heard about lazy programmers, but this is just plain silly 🙂

Anon

<light slap>no, your silly.</light slap>

<?='id'?>
<? echo("id"); ?>

the ability to to this, especially for ids in javacript/dhtml strings, is much cleaner... in my mind.

curious i did a test on the two methods..
timing the execution 100 of each

the former executes equally fast or even marginally faster so...

in case anyone wondered.

also there was a previous post which suggested <? echo("id"); ?>
would be slower than <? echo'id'; ?>

i tested this too and my test showed no difference at all.

[deleted]

Personally I find it clear to put 'echo' instead of some shortcut that you have to know before you understand it.

the same goes for the IF shortcut:

$a = (1==2)?3:4;
short? definately.
readable? not a chance.

echo 'hello';
should technically be faster than
echo "hello";

because code between single-quotes is not evaluated. But in a string the size of 'hello' The difference becomes 'apparent' if you repeat the command 10k+ times... :-)

Anon

try this. no difference.

<?
function ss_timing_start ($name = ‘default’) {
global $ss_timing_start_times;
$ss_timing_start_times[$name] = explode(' ', microtime());
}
function ss_timing_stop ($name = ‘default’) {
global $ss_timing_stop_times;
$ss_timing_stop_times[$name] = explode(' ', microtime());
}
function ss_timing_current ($name = ‘default’) {
global $ss_timing_start_times, $ss_timing_stop_times;
if (!isset($ss_timing_start_times[$name])) {
return 0;
}
if (!isset($ss_timing_stop_times[$name])) {
$stop_time = explode(' ', microtime());
}
else {
$stop_time = $ss_timing_stop_times[$name];
}
$current = $stop_time[1] - $ss_timing_start_times[$name][1];
$current += $stop_time[0] - $ss_timing_start_times[$name][0];
return $current;
}
?>

<head>
<title>hmm?</title>
</head>
<body>
<h2>double quote or single ? hmm?</h2>
<body>
<? ss_timing_start(quoted); ?>
<?
for ($i=0; $i<10000; $i++) {
echo("natas ");
}

?>
<? ss_timing_stop(quoted); ?>
<br>
<b>aposted test</b>
<? ss_timing_start(apos); ?>
<?
for ($i=0; $i<10000; $i++) {
echo'natas ';
}
?>
<? ss_timing_stop(apos); ?>
<br>
<h2>Results</h2>
quoted - <? echo ss_timing_current(quoted) ?>
<br>
apos - <? echo ss_timing_current(apos) ?>

</body>

Anon

If you are interested in your code working on more than just your current configuration - and that includes future PHP upgrades - you might want to consider this:

From the php.net website, talking about the short_open_tag configuration variable:

Tells whether the short form (<? ?>) of PHP's open tag should be allowed. If you want to use PHP in combination with XML, you have to disable this option. If disabled, you must use the long form of the open tag (<?php ?>).

Rumor has it that a future version of PHP will have to have the short form enabled before it will even be recognized.

Tough it up. Use <?PHP and spell out echo instead of taking some default parser bahavior...

-t

Anon

vincent,

i am curious to know you average times with this script.
mine are:

thinkpad 700mz win2k server php isapi iis.
Results
quoted - 0.378462
apos - 0.440711

thanks!

Anon

thanks. very interesting.
im sure i would have tried to do somthing with xml and spent a week scraching my head.

here is a larger version of that test..
i am just switching over to php, and found these results interesting.

<head>
<title>hmm?</title>
</head>
<body>
<h2>echo vs. string vs. inline</h2>
<b>echo test</b>
<br>
<? ss_timing_start('echo'); ?>
<?
for ($i=0; $i<1000; $i++) {
echo $i." ";
}
?>
<? ss_timing_stop('echo'); ?>

<br>
<b>string test</b>
<br>
<? ss_timing_start(str); ?>
<?
$str = '';
for ($i=0; $i<1000; $i++) {
$str .= $i." ";
}
echo $str;
?>
<? ss_timing_stop(str); ?>

<br>
<b>inline test</b>
<br>
<? ss_timing_start(inline); ?>
<?
for ($i=0; $i<1000; $i++) {
?>
666 
<?
}
?>
<? ss_timing_stop(inline); ?>

<br>
<br>
<h2>Results</h2>
echo - <? echo ss_timing_current('echo') ?>
<br>
str - <? echo ss_timing_current(str) ?>
<br>
inline - <? echo ss_timing_current(inline) ?>

<hr>

<h2>echo quote vs. apos</h2>
<b>quoted test</b>
<? ss_timing_start(quoted); ?>
<?
for ($i=0; $i<1000; $i++) {
echo("natas ");
}

?>
<? ss_timing_stop(quoted); ?>
<br>
<b>aposted test</b>
<? ss_timing_start(apos); ?>
<?
for ($i=0; $i<1000; $i++) {
echo 'natas ';
}
?>
<? ss_timing_stop(apos); ?>
<br>
<h2>Results</h2>
quoted - <? echo ss_timing_current(quoted) ?>
<br>
apos - <? echo ss_timing_current(apos) ?>

<h2>shorthand vs. long</h2>
<b>shorthand test</b>
<? ss_timing_start(shorthand); ?>
<?
for ($i=0; $i<1000; $i++) {
?>
666<?='natas' ?> 
<?
}
?>
<? ss_timing_stop(shorthand); ?>
<br>
<b>longhand test</b>
<? ss_timing_start(longhand); ?>
<?
for ($i=0; $i<1000; $i++) {
?>
666<? echo("natas"); ?> 
<?
}
?>
<? ss_timing_stop(longhand); ?>
<br>
<h2>Results</h2>
shorthand - <? echo ss_timing_current(shorthand) ?>
<br>
longhand - <? echo ss_timing_current(longhand) ?>
<br>
<hr>
<br>
<h2>Test str_replace vs ereg</h2>
<? $string = 'Testing with <i>emphasis</i>'; ?>
<br>
<?='<b>string to replace:</b> '.$string; ?>
<br>
<br>
<b>str_replace</b>
<br>
<? ss_timing_start('str_replace'); ?>
<?
for ($i=0; $i<1000; $i++) {
$string=(str_replace('i>', 'b>', $string).'<br>');
}
?>
<? ss_timing_stop('str_replace'); ?>
<?='str_replace(\'i>\', \'b>\', $string)'?>
<br>
<b>ereg_replace</b>
<br>
<? ss_timing_start(ereg); ?>
<?
for ($i=0; $i<1000; $i++) {
$string=(ereg_replace('i>', 'b>', $string).'<br>');
}
?>
<? ss_timing_stop(ereg); ?>
<?='ereg_replace(\'i>\', \'b>\', $string)'?>
<br>
<b>ereg_pattern</b>
<br>
<? ss_timing_start(ereg_pattern); ?>
<?php
for ($i=0; $i<1000; $i++) {
ereg_replace('<([/])i>', '<\1b>', $string).'<br>';
}
?>
<? ss_timing_stop(ereg_pattern); ?>
<?='ereg_replace(\'<([/])i>\', \'<\1b>\', $string'?>
<br>
<h2>Results</h2>
str_replace - <?php echo ss_timing_current(str_replace) ?>
<br>
ereg - <?php echo ss_timing_current(ereg) ?>
<br>
ereg_pattern - <?php echo ss_timing_current(ereg_pattern) ?>
<br>
<hr>
<?
$string = 'Testing with <em>emphasis</em> on a long string so we can see how the <em>different</em> replace functions perform.';

ss_timing_start('str_replace');
for ($i=0; $i<10000; $i++) {
     str_replace('em>', 'strong>', $string).'<br>';
}
ss_timing_stop('str_replace');

ss_timing_start(ereg);
for ($i=0; $i<10000; $i++) {
     ereg_replace('em>', 'strong>', $string).'<br>';
}
ss_timing_stop(ereg);

ss_timing_start(eregi);
for ($i=0; $i<10000; $i++) {
     eregi_replace('em>', 'strong>', $string).'<br>';
}
ss_timing_stop(eregi);

ss_timing_start(ereg_pattern);
for ($i=0; $i<10000; $i++) {
     ereg_replace('<([/]*)em>', '<\1strong>', $string).'<br>';
}
ss_timing_stop(ereg_pattern);

ss_timing_start(eregi_pattern);
for ($i=0; $i<10000; $i++) {
     eregi_replace('<([/]*)em>', '<\1strong>', $string).'<br>';
}
ss_timing_stop(eregi_pattern);

echo "10,000 iterations gave:";
echo "<p>str_replace - ".ss_timing_current(str_replace);
echo "<p>ereg - ".ss_timing_current(ereg);
echo "<p>ereg_pattern - ".ss_timing_current(ereg_pattern);
echo "<p>eregi - ".ss_timing_current(eregi);

?>
</body>

[deleted]

interesting benchmark.

Try reversing the order, test the single quotes first, then the double quotes.

It turns out that whichever you do first is slower.

Anon

if you refresh a few times it seem like a dead heat.

i posted a much larger benchmark i my comments below. try that.

its testing the string replace functions and the metods of printing strings.
very interesting.

lucianoes

How do you run such test? What do you use to benchmark it?

    Thank you,
    Luciano ES
    Santos - SP - Brasil

Anon

i posted two versions of this test in this thread. read my other responses.. cut and paste and run.
one tests quite a few things