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.

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

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:

if ($a == 5):
    print "a equals 5";
    print "...";
elseif ($a == 6):
    print "a equals 6";
    print "!!!";
else:
    print "a is neither 5 nor 6";
endif;
     

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