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PHP Syntax
PHP code is executed on the server, and the plain HTML result is sent to the browser.
Basic PHP Syntax
A PHP scripting block always starts with <?php and ends with ?>. A PHP scripting block can be placed anywhere in the document.
On servers with shorthand support enabled you can start a scripting block with <? and end with ?>.
For maximum compatibility, we recommend that you use the standard form (<?php) rather than the shorthand form.
A PHP file normally contains HTML tags, just like an HTML file, and some PHP scripting code.
Below, we have an example of a simple PHP script which sends the text "Hello World" to the browser:
Code:
<html>
<body>
<?php
echo "Hello World";
?>
</body>
</html>
Each code line in PHP must end with a semicolon. The semicolon is a separator and is used to distinguish one set of instructions from another.
There are two basic statements to output text with PHP: echo and print. In the example above we have used the echo statement to output the text "Hello World".
Note: The file must have a .php extension. If the file has a .html extension, the PHP code will not be executed.
Comments in PHP
In PHP, we use // to make a single-line comment or /* and */ to make a large comment block.
Code:
<html>
<body>
<?php
//This is a comment
/*
This is
a comment
block
*/
?>
</body>
</html>
