Outputting a string of HTML

Question

I'm adding my HTML to a var:

$html = '';
$html .= '<li>';
$html .= '<p>hello</p>';
$html .= '</li>';
....
echo $html

When I view the page's source the above is all output on one line. How can I fix it so that we see the layout as you would if it was written:

<ul>
    <li>
        <p>hello</p>
    </li>
    ...

You would add the spaces/tabs yourself, does it really matter if the output is indented? - Browsers don't care. — Alex K., Sep 12 '16 at 15:24

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 12 '16 at 15:26

Could always do this:

?>
<ul>
    <li>
        <p>hello</p>
    </li>
</ul>
<?php

BUT keep in mind that there is an important difference between "all mashed together" and "nicely spaced out": whitespace will cause empty text nodes to be added, which may interfere with layouts (if using display:inline-block) or JavaScript (if using childNodes). It also takes up extra unnecessary bandwidth. Use what is most appropriate.

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 12 '16 at 15:24

1

Add newlines with \n and tabs with \t:

$html = '';
$html .= "<li>\n";
$html .= "\t<p>hello</p>\n";
$html .= "</li>\n";

answered Sep 12 '16 at 15:24

j08691

204,283
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If you're going to store this string in a file then it's better to use `PHP_EOL` rather than `\n` otherwise `\n` is better. – apokryfos Sep 12 '16 at 15:44

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 12 '16 at 15:24

1

You can add all at once:

$html = '
<ul>
    <li>
        <p>hello</p>
    </li>
</ul>
';

answered Sep 12 '16 at 15:24

ban17

634
8
12

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 12 '16 at 15:25

0

Try using the PHP constant PHP_EOL.

$html = '';
$html .= '<li>' . PHP_EOL;
$html .= '<p>hello</p>' . PHP_EOL;
$html .= '</li>' . PHP_EOL;

answered Sep 12 '16 at 15:25

BA_Webimax

2,714
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Outputting a string of HTML

4 Answers4