Question

Latelly I’ve seen a lot of PHP/MySQL questions that enclose SQL values within {}, for instance:

SELECT * FROM table WHERE field LIKE '{$value}';

What’s up with that? Is it even valid? Why do so many people use this weird (at least for me) syntax?

Answer 1

From php.net:

Complex (curly) syntax

This isn’t called complex because the
syntax is complex, but because it
allows for the use of complex
expressions.

In fact, any value in the namespace
can be included in a string with this
syntax. Simply write the expression
the same way as it would appear
outside the string, and then wrap it
in { and }. Since { can not be
escaped, this syntax will only be
recognised when the $ immediately
follows the {. Use {\$ to get a
literal {$.