Web студия "GrandView"

PHP offers an alternative syntax for some of its control structures; namely, if, while, for, foreach, and switch. In each case, the basic form of the alternate syntax is to change the opening brace to a colon (:) and the closing brace to endif;, endwhile;, endfor;, endforeach;, or endswitch;, respectively.

In the above example, the HTML block "A is equal to 5" is nested within an if statement written in the alternative syntax. The HTML block would be displayed only if $a is equal to 5.

The alternative syntax applies to else and elseif as well. The following is an if structure with elseif and else in the alternative format:

add a note User Contributed Notes
Alternative syntax for control structures

php dot net at eoasys dot com
24-Oct-2007 03:03


In response to spa:



Yeah, that's for sure! Seems so obvious, but remains a tough sell... I avoid the "Bracket Racket", and use it only where the (ahem) "Clearer Syntax" wasn't implemented.



A further improvement would be a "Noun-Verb" form of end structures. Such as:



if (...):

  while (...):

    ...

    if (...):

      ...

      ...

    ifend;

    ...

  whileend;

ifend;



This would make it yet another level of easier to tell which block end you're looking at. ;-)

php dot net at eoasys dot com
24-Oct-2007 02:47


Response to virtuall: This works as well, and I find it easier to read:



<?php if ($whatever): ?>

        $whatever is true

<?php else: ?>

        $whatever is false

<?php endif ?>



;-)

spa
16-Oct-2007 04:40


In response to virtuall:



The end_; structure sometimes makes it easier to tell which block statement end you are looking at.  It's much harder to tell which nested block a } belongs to than an end_;

virtuall at virtuall dot info
05-Oct-2007 09:24


I'd say this is nicer than that "endif" thing (not really an "alternative syntax", but):



<? if ($whatever) { ?>

  Whatever is true.

<? } else { ?>

  Whatever is false.

<? } ?>

php dot net at eoasys dot com
18-Sep-2007 04:57


Amen to what "atw" said.



It's really amazing how off-topic many notes on this page are. It is specifically about ENDcontrol structures. Of the twelve notes below, only one even mentions the word END. Perhaps only three or four are directly on-topic!

nog_lorp
08-Sep-2007 08:06


(($alt_color) ? $alt_color=false : $alt_color=true);

would be way prettier as

$alt_color = not($alt_color);



:D

jason
17-Aug-2007 08:29


<? while($row = $mysql_fetch_array($result)):?>



<tr bgcolor="<?=($i++ % 2)>0 ? '#FFFFFF' : '#FF0000' ?>">

<td></td>

</tr>



<? endwhile;?>

oly at czo dot net
27-Jun-2007 01:59


3 Lines to make table row colors alternate.  Could be used for other applications as well.



<?

//1. Initialize alternating variable.

$alt_color=true;



while($row=mysql_fetch_array($result)){

  //2. If alt var true set one color if false set the other.

  echo (($alt_color) ? "<tr bgcolor=\"#ffffff\">\n" : "<tr bgcolor=\"#D9E5F1\">\n");

  echo "<td>echo $row['id'];;</td>\n";

  echo "</tr>\n";

  //3. Alternate the variable value;

  (($alt_color) ? $alt_color=false : $alt_color=true);

}

?>

geekman at Textbook Torrents dot com
01-Apr-2007 03:09


The bug in your example is user error.



<?

$foobar = 2;



echo 'Foobar is ' . ($foobar == 2) ? 'foo' : 'bar';

// outputs 'foo';



echo 'Foobar is ' . (($foobar == 2) ? 'foo' : 'bar');

// outputs 'Foobar is foo';

?>



When using the ? : operators you should always wrap the entire thing in parentheses to avoid the problem you describe. By my understanding, the issue an extension of your example:



<?

$pet-type = 1;

$pet-name = 'Mittens';



echo 'My ' . ($pet-type == 1) ? 'cat' : 'puppy' . 'dog' . '\'s name is ' . $pet-name . '.';

// returns 'cat'



echo 'My ' . (($pet-type == 1) ? 'cat' : 'puppy' . 'dog') . '\'s name is ' . $pet-name . '.';

// returns 'My cat\'s name is Mittens.'

?>



You see that without parentheses the parser has no way of differentiating between the false case and the rest of the string.

fernandoleal at dragoncs dot com
03-Feb-2007 11:17


If you need nested ifs on I var its important to group the if so it works.

Example:

<?php

//Dont Works

//Parse error: parse error, unexpected ':' 

 $var='<option value="1" '.$status == "1" ? 'selected="selected"' :''.'>Value 1</option>';

 //Works:

 $var='<option value="1" '.($status == "1" ? 'selected="selected"' :'').'>Value 1</option>';



echo $var;

?>

atw
03-Nov-2006 04:47


As "qbolec" states, all the notes below which use the "?" are actually references to the ternary operator (http://uk.php.net/operators.comparison").



Whilst this is kind of relevent, it probably shouldn't be in this section.

Neil
29-Sep-2006 12:08


as skippy noted above this is very useful stuff for interspersed php & html. Here is alternative syntax example using a bitwise comparison to set checkboxes on and off to prefill a permissions bitmask calculator form:

<? 

$bitmask = 481683;

?>

.... [yada yada yada]....

<input type="checkbox" name="SOME_PERMISSION_VARIABLE" value="32768" <? echo($bitmask & 32768 ? "checked" : ""); ?>>Can perform some operation<br/>

<input type="checkbox" name="SOME_OTHER_PERMISSION_VARIABLE" value="65536" <? echo($bitmask & 65536 ? "checked" : ""); ?>>Can perform some other operation<br/>



You supply a bitmask, and it prechecks all the permissions the user has so you don't need to remember what they already have to recheck them all individually.



It's much more elegant than traditional if's.

davidforest at gmail dot com
19-Oct-2005 06:26


If you need a tidy way to do a lot of condition testing, switch statement will do the job well:



switch (true){



    case ($a>0):

                     //do sth;

                     break;

    case ($b>0):

                     //do sth;

                     break;

    case ($c>0):

                     //do sth;

                     break;

    case ($d>0):

                     //do sth;

                     break;



}

skippy at zuavra dot net
27-Jun-2005 04:32


If it needs saying, this alternative syntax is excellent for improving legibility (for both PHP and HTML!) in situations where you have a mix of them.



Interface templates are very often in need of this, especially since the PHP code in them is usually written by one person (who is more of a programmer) and the HTML gets modified by another person (who is more of a web designer). Clear separation in such cases is extremely useful.



See the default templates that come with WordPress 1.5+ (www.wordpress.org) for practical and smart examples of this alternative syntax.

siebe-tolsma at home dot nl
18-Mar-2004 10:22


As a rection on sttoo, if you use nested if's a bit different they are less likely to cause mistakes:

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Referenced Note has been removed]



<?php

$one = true;

$two = true;



$result = ($one ? "one" : ($two ? "two" : "none"));    // $result is "one"



$one = false;

$result = ($one ? "one" : ($two ? "two" : "none"));    // $result is "two"



$two = false;

$result = ($one ? "one" : ($two ? "two" : "none"));    // $result is "none"



?>

i a m 4 w e b w o r k at hotmail dot com
12-Oct-2003 04:38


Good tutorial on using alternative control structure syntax at:

http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/php/2001/05/03/php_foundations.html?page=1

paul at example dot com
06-Sep-2003 06:27


There is an other alternative syntax:



<?php

if ($a > 5) {

    echo "big";

} else {

    echo "small";

}

?>



can be replaced by:



<?php

echo $a > 5 ? "big" : "small";

?>

add a note