Noob problem, code printed out as text

[Complex Buttons]

I'm trying to make a PHP feature on my Wordpress site that would randomly display one of three messages in the header, and the message displayed would be randomized each time the page is loaded. The message would contain a link. I'm this far:

 

In index.php, after  <?php get_header(); ?>, I have written or copy pasted:

 

$i = mt_rand(1,3);

switch ($i) {

    case 1:

        echo "message 1";

        break;

    case 2:

        echo "message 2";

        break;

    case 3:

        echo "message 3";

        break;

}

?>

 

But this whole code prints out as text. Apparently I'm missing something really basic here. Could someone help? Thank you a thousand times!

[hyster]

im no means an expert but the echo are plain text. u need to make them a hyperlink

 

<a href="www.link1.com/index.php" title="link 1">message 1</a>

echo "<a href=www.link1.com/index.php" title="link 1">message 1</a>;
        break;

 

something like that

[scvinodkumar]

Yeah you have missed php open tag <?php after <?php get_header(); ?> this line or remove this closing tag in the header function '?>'

[Complex Buttons]

hyster: Thanks! That worked.

 

scvinodkumar: Now when I try to load the page, I get: "Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_STRING, expecting ',' or ';' in C:\xampp\htdocs\wordpress\wp-content\themes\tutorial\index.php  on line 6"

 

Line 6 is: echo "<a href=www.link1.com/index.php" title="link 1">message 1</a>;

 

Entire code is:

 

<?php

$i = mt_rand(1,3);

switch ($i) {

    case 1:

        echo "<a href=www.link1.com/index.php" title="link 1">message 1</a>;

        break;

    case 2:

        echo "<a href=www.link1.com/index.php" title="link 1">message 2</a>;

        break;

    case 3:

        echo "<a href=www.link1.com/index.php" title="link 1">message 3</a>;

        break;

}

?>

[Complex Buttons]

The first " in

echo "<a href=www.link1.com/index.php" title="link 1">message 1</a>;

looked wrong as there is no closing ". Now I get: "Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '<' in C:\xampp\htdocs\wordpress\wp-content\themes\tutorial\index.php  on line 6"

 

For some reason I could not edit my previous post to tell this.

[scvinodkumar]

You should use like this,

echo "<a href='www.link1.com/index.php' title='link 1'>message 1</a>";

 

whenever you open quote, you need to close quote.

[Complex Buttons]

Brilliant! You rule, scvinodkumar!