Why does

Question

Inside the body of an html document I have something like this:

<?=str_replace(' ', '_', $result[0]['something'])?>

This works perfectly fine. In the same document I have this:

<?php if(!empty($result[0]['something'])) { echo "Hello"; } else { echo "&nbsp;"; }?>

Which also works fine, but it slightly bothers me that I am using <?= in one place and <?php in another. When I try to change the if code to become:

<?=if(!empty($result[0]['something'])) { echo "Hello"; } else { echo "&nbsp;"; }?>

or

<?= if(!empty($result[0]['something'])) { echo "Hello"; } else { echo "&nbsp;"; }?>

Both result in a Parse error: syntax error, unexpected 'if' (T_IF) in....

I've attempted to find some documentation on the respective differences between <?php and <?= as a php opening tag but all I get is data on short tags - which this is not. Can someone explain this behavior for me?

`=` expects an expression, not a statement. – Olivier Apr 07 '20 at 20:22 — Olivier, Apr 07 '20 at 20:22
There was a short `` but it is deprecated. – AbraCadaver Apr 07 '20 at 20:36 — AbraCadaver, Apr 07 '20 at 20:36

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 07 '20 at 20:18

1

<?= is like <?php echo. You can't echo an if statement.

answered Apr 07 '20 at 20:18

Quentin

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Thank you. Nice clear and clean explanation. Much appreciated! – Dan Francis Apr 07 '20 at 20:22

Why does

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