PHP Manual
Prev | Chapter 11. Control Structures | Next

# Alternative syntax for control structures

PHP offers an alternative syntax for some of its control structures; namely, `if`, `while`, `for`, and `switch`. In each case, the basic form of the alternate syntax is to change the opening brace to a colon (:) and the closing brace to `endif;`, `endwhile;`, `endfor;`, or `endswitch;`, respectively.

      1
      2  <?php if ($a == 5): ?>
      3  A is equal to 5
      4  <?php endif; ?>
      5

In the above example, the HTML block "A = 5" is nested within an `if` statement written in the alternative syntax. The HTML block would be displayed only if $a is equal to 5.

The alternative syntax applies to `else` and `elseif` as well. The following is an `if` structure with `elseif` and `else` in the alternative format:

      1
      2 if ($a == 5):
      3     print "a equals 5";
      4     print "...";
      5 elseif ($a == 6):
      6     print "a equals 6";
      7     print "!!!";
      8 else:
      9     print "a is neither 5 nor 6";
     10 endif;
     11

See also while, for, and if for further examples.

Prev | Home | Next
`elseif` | Up | `while`