Lambda and colon in while statement for PHP?

Question

What does the below code mean (it's a lambda in the while-statement, then a colon after)? Coming from JavaScript, I have no idea what that means or even how to search for that. Can anyone help explain this?

while ($query->have_posts()): $query->the_post();

Btw I got this from WordPress but is the syntax pure PHP?

Where exactly is the lambda? – Waleed Khan Feb 10 '13 at 06:40 — Waleed Khan, Feb 10 '13 at 06:40

score 9 · Accepted Answer · edited May 12 '14 at 19:10

9

This is a less-common while structure:

while (condition):
    doSomething();
endwhile;

This is not how things are traditionally done, but it is valid syntax. See while loop syntax for more details, as well as alternative control syntax.

edited May 12 '14 at 19:10

bwoebi

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answered Feb 10 '13 at 06:38

Levi Morrison

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score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 10 '13 at 06:39

1

It is an alternative syntax for control structures.

answered Feb 10 '13 at 06:39

Ed Heal

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score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 10 '13 at 06:53

In general, this:

while (expression) :
  //actions
endwhile;

is the same as this:

while (expression) {
  //actions
}

which is what you're probably used to. The bracketted expression $query->havePosts() is just the condition of the while, and the sentence after the colon is the first line within the while.

Lambda and colon in while statement for PHP?

3 Answers3

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