My server only recognizes the <?php tag. How do I get it to recognize <? tag?

[LucienFB]

My server only recognizes the <?php tag. How do I get it to recognize <? tag?

 

Is there a setting in Apache or elsewhere to get my server to recognize the <? tag. It is only when I change every <? tag to a <?php tag that my php works.

 

Thanks in Advance,

 

Lucien

[kopytko]

You need to change in your php.ini file short_open_tag to On.

[JamieThompson90]

http://uk2.php.net/configuration

[adam291086]

isn't it bad not to do <?php. I thought some browser didn't recognise <? as php

[rajivgonsalves]

its bad because it restricts the portability of the code

[PFMaBiSmAd]

Short open tags create a problem with xml inside a .php file as well, because the php parser was never made smart enough to figure out that <?xml is not a short open tag and you have to echo an xml opening tag instead of having it inline in a .php file.

 

PHP.NET itself also recommends not using short open tags because you will end up with code that won't work on some servers and you won't always be in a position to be able to turn short open tags on -

 

; NOTE: Using short tags should be avoided when developing applications or

; libraries that are meant for redistribution, or deployment on PHP

; servers which are not under your control, because short tags may not

; be supported on the target server. For portable, redistributable code,

; be sure not to use short tags.