PHP goto alternative

Question

I've just recently started using PHP 5.4 and have noticed as of 5.3 you can use goto to jump to sections of code which I am using to jump from a loop section. My question is after having read this post... Is GOTO in PHP evil? is this bad practice in this case or is it a viable solution?

<?php
while ($thisResult = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {      
    if($article && $i > 0) {
        goto comments;
    }

?>
    <h2>
        <a href="/plugins/<?=$thisResult['post_name']?>"><?=$thisResult['post_title']?></a>
        <span><?=$thisResult['post_modified_gmt']?></span>
    </h2>
    <p class="content">
        <?=nl2br($thisResult['post_content']);?>
    </p>
    <br />  
 <?php
    comments: 
        if ($article) {
?>
        <p class="comment"><?=$thisResult['comment_content']?>
<?php
        }

    $i++;
}

 ?>

it's a bad practise and completely unneccessary in your code example — Marko D, Mar 13 '13 at 14:53
mixing logic (retrieve from database) with html output is a bad practice as well. and inserting something into `while` just to output it once does not make sense — Maxim Krizhanovsky, Mar 13 '13 at 14:55
I dont know what ur script should do, but whenever you need to use GOTO it means you wrote your script wrong way... I dont think you can hit that expert code you will need to use GOTO. — Wiggler Jtag, Mar 13 '13 at 14:57
It's because that code also powers a summary of articles so if an article is not specified — KryptoniteDove, Mar 13 '13 at 14:57

Max Doumit · Answer 1 · 2013-03-13T15:01:40.523

1

This is called spaghetti programming and is a bad practice. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghetti_code

here is what you can do instead for your code

    <?php
    while ($thisResult = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {      
        if($article && $i > 0) {

        }
    else {
    ?>
        <h2>
            <a href="/plugins/<?php $thisResult['post_name']?>"><?php $thisResult['post_title']?></a>
            <span><?php $thisResult['post_modified_gmt']?></span>
        </h2>
        <p class="content">
            <?php nl2br($thisResult['post_content']);?>
        </p>
        <br />  
     <?php
    }
            if ($article) {
    ?>
            <p class="comment"><?php $thisResult['comment_content']?>
    <?php
            }

        $i++;
    }

     ?>

A simple else solves it. you can probably find more elegant solutions using switch cases or flags.

The problem is that your code will be hard to edit and add stuff to it.

edited Mar 13 '13 at 15:01

answered Mar 13 '13 at 14:56

Max Doumit

1,065
12
33

Bad practice using short tags and not ` – Daryl Gill Mar 13 '13 at 14:58
I don't see any spaghetti code here. Are you sure you're not just repeating a mantra for the sake of it? – Lightness Races in Orbit Mar 13 '13 at 15:02
@DarylGill **nothing** wrong with short tags. please quit that nasty rumor – Your Common Sense Mar 13 '13 at 15:03
@YourCommonSense Acceptable, but They're not recommended – Daryl Gill Mar 13 '13 at 15:05
Why not? is it only about readability? thanks all really appreciate the time to respond and give pointers. – KryptoniteDove Mar 13 '13 at 15:07
@LightnessRacesinOrbit i am referring to the goto approach. – Max Doumit Mar 13 '13 at 15:08
1

[php short open tag](http://www.php.net/manual/en/ini.core.php#ini.short-open-tag). It will not support since PHP 5.4 and onward. – TNK Mar 13 '13 at 15:09
1

@TNK it will stay supported, read carefully. @YourCommonSense ` – Marko D Mar 13 '13 at 15:12
2

@TNK from your link: Since PHP 5.4.0, = is **always** available. – Your Common Sense Mar 13 '13 at 15:15

Marko D · Answer 2 · 2013-03-13T15:33:46.913

This is rewrite of the same code without using goto, to show you that you can always make it without it

<?php
    while ($thisResult = mysql_fetch_array($result)):
        if(!$article || $i <= 0): ?>
            <h2>
                <a href="/plugins/<?php echo $thisResult['post_name']; ?>"><?php echo $thisResult['post_title']; ?></a>
                <span><?php echo $thisResult['post_modified_gmt']; ?></span>
            </h2>
            <p class="content">
                <?php echo nl2br($thisResult['post_content']); ?>
            </p>
            <br />
        <?php endif; ?>
        <?php if ($article): ?>
            <p class="comment"><?php echo $thisResult['comment_content']; ?></p>
        <?php endif;
        $i++;
    endwhile;

I used alternative syntax for control structures, and replaced <?= with <?php echo as it's much more readable to me. Also, other commenters gave you some good suggestions regarding separation of markup and db functions etc, so please give it a thought

@YourCommonSense I didn't say there is anything wrong with it. But for me is **much** less readable — Marko D, Mar 13 '13 at 15:03

PHP goto alternative

2 Answers2