Alternative syntax for control structures

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.


<?php if ($a == 5): ?>

A is equal to 5

<?php endif; ?>

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:


<?php

if ($a == 5):

    echo "a equals 5";

    echo "...";

elseif ($a == 6):

    echo "a equals 6";

    echo "!!!";

else:

    echo "a is neither 5 nor 6";

endif;

?>

See also while, for, and if for further examples.

User Contributed Notes
Alternative syntax for control structures

groundzero at 0845 dot uk dot com
19-May-2005 03:04


Person below...



paul at example dot com didnt say its was a replacement, or exactly the same as the if statement. He just gave a piece of code that, in this case had the same effect.

jasperbg at gmail dot com
31-Mar-2005 01:01


paul at example dot com, and all saying that $x ? $y : $z is an alternative structure for if...else:



It's not! It's a completely separate operator, a comparison operator called the Ternary operator. Look on this page:



http://php.net/language.operators.comparison

siebe-tolsma at home dot nl
18-Mar-2004 12:22


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



<?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"



?>

ssttoo at hotmail dot com
05-Dec-2003 07:20


Nested ternary operators can be used, although not a "good programming practice", as it does not promote readability and is prone to errors.



<?php

$one = true;

$two = true;

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

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

?>

i a m 4 w e b w o r k at hotmail dot com
12-Oct-2003 06:38


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 08:27


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";

?>

matheo at step dot polymtl dot ca
04-Sep-2003 06:37


You can use a short syntax for "if"


$a = (condition) ? value if condition is true : value if condition is false;





<?php


$a = 1 ;


$b = 2 ;


$is_a_bigger = ($a > $b) ? 1 : 0 ;


echo $a_is_bigger ;


# returns 0





$a = 2 ;


$b = 1 ;


$is_a_bigger = ($a > $b) ? 1 : 0 ;


echo $is_a_bigger ;


# returns 1





?>

christopher dot murtaghNO at mcgill dot SPAMca
16-May-2003 02:19


A comment to the above:





 You shouldn't need to change your code syntax because of nested flow control statements. Instead you should strongly think about your coding style and getting a better text editor. For example, indent your structures and sub structures:





<?php


 if($foo){


   if($Bar){


        // some code


   }


   else{


        // something else


   }


}


else{


    for($i=0;$i<$foo;$i++){


        // do something


    }


}


?>





 Also, any text editor worth using for coding (emacs, vi(m), BBEdit, Elvis, etc..) should do bracket balancing in case you are really in deep.