Is this php?

[Drummin]

Looking at some code from post http://forums.phpfreaks.com/index.php?topic=364299.0 and was wondering if this is even php?  Anyone seen this before with the equal sign after the question mark?

<?=$aset[siteDescription]?>"

[Christian F.]

Yes, this is called the "short tags notation". It's basically the same as <?php ecvho $aset[siteDescription]; ?>, though I suspect that 'SiteDescription' shouldn't be a constant.

 

Anyway, the short tags have been deprecated for quite a while now, and the vast majority of web hosts have them turned off. So I recommend staying away from them, and just using the regular full tags instead.

[Drummin]

Thanks.  Just seemed odd <?=

 

Would this be valid?

<?php=$aset['SiteDescription']?>

 

Personally I've always echoed anything that need to be rendered to the page.  Just want to understand it, thanks. 

[ManiacDan]

Christian is right, but note that the "constant" SiteDescription probably needs to be quoted.

[Drummin]

Never been real good with terminology but an unquoted name in brackets [name] would be a constant, right?  And I understand that the "name" in brackets should be quoted ['name'].  I do that all the time.  But what is that called?

 

Also can I get an answer if the code posted above is valid? 

[trq]

And I understand that the "name" in brackets should be quoted ['name'].  I do that all the time.  But what is that called?

 

It's a string.

 

Also can I get an answer if the post above is valid?

 

No, it's not valid. You know you can always try these simple script to see if they work?

[Drummin]

OK, so in other words, valid markup would be full echo then, correct?

<?php echo $aset['SiteDescription']; ?>

OR

<?php echo "{$aset['SiteDescription']}"; ?>

... and there no valid "notation" type formatting with the equal sign for this and all lines like this would need to be replaced, correct?

 

Note: it's not my site or code so testing isn't all that easy.  Just wanted to understand if there was in fact notation type scripting and if so, the correct way to write it.  Thanks for the feedback.

[Christian F.]

A valid syntax would be the full echo, yes. Markup is something reserved for HTML, and similar languages.

 

PS: No need to use the second example, all it does is add complexity without adding any functionality.

[ignace]

Anyway, the short tags have been deprecated for quite a while now, and the vast majority of web hosts have them turned off. So I recommend staying away from them, and just using the regular full tags instead.

 

They are enabled by default in PHP 5.4+ I consider it good practice to use them in view/template files, bad in all other instances, makes it more readable.

 

http://www.php.net/manual/en/ini.core.php#ini.short-open-tag

This directive also affected the shorthand <?= before PHP 5.4.0, which is identical to <? echo. Use of this shortcut required short_open_tag to be on. Since PHP 5.4.0, <?= is always available.

[trq]

Not only are they enabled by default in 5.4, but <?= is always available, regardless of the short tags setting.

[Drummin]

Thank you  everyone.