Question

Man, I could swear I saw it somewhere, the useful syntax for shortening the <?php echo $var ?> construct, and I think it was <?=$var?> but it doesn’t work. I’ve searched about half an hour now but can’t find the website again that told me about it, and I can’t figure out the correct syntax.

Am I hallucinating or is there really a syntax like this?

<div style="background-color:<?=$backgroundColorFromPhp?>">
    Hello <?=$name?>!
</div>

Answer 1

PHP has the short_open_tag directive in php.ini which enables this syntax:

<? PHP code here; ?>

as opposed to <?php PHP code here; ?>.

It also enables

<?= variable ?>

as a shorthand for <? echo variable; ?>. The docs note that as of PHP 5.4.0 <?= will be enabled regardless of the short_open_tag setting.

Very similar is asp_tags. It enables the classic ASP-style syntax:

<% PHP code here; %>
<%= variable %>

which is where the echo-shorthand syntax originally came from. Side note: In classic ASP <%= ... would replace the rather verbose form:

<% Response.Write variable %>