Use short echo tags in phtml templates

[colinmollenhour]

PHP 5.4 has made the short echo tag <?= always available regardless of the short_open_tag setting so this feature is now 100% future proof and using it in templates reduces quite a bit of unnecessary typing/characters. The feature has been in PHP forever, only before 5.4 it could be disabled in php.ini.

Proposal example before:

<dt><?php echo $this->getFoo() ?></dt><dd><?php echo $this->getBar() ?></dd>

Proposed change to:

<dt><?= $this->getFoo() ?></dt><dd><?= $this->getBar() ?></dd>

I'd be happy to tackle this by writing a script which can do the replacement with a regex. I think it won't be hard using a lookahead to make sure the replacement is only done when there is one statement between the open and close tags (detected by semicolons).

Note, I am not proposing changing all tags to short tags, just the ones that contain a single echo statement on one line.

If you approve I will start on the script. Actually I would probably use DAMit which would make it easy for everyone to convert their code if they so desired:
http://code.google.com/p/dam-tools/source/browse/trunk/DAMit.pl

EDIT:
For users of PHP versions prior to 5.4 it should be possible to force short_open_tag to "on" via .htaccess.

php_value short_open_tag 1

[IvanChepurnyi]

I would love to... But how about minimal system requirement of PHP5.3? PHP5.4 is not yet so popular...

Also initial public version of Magento was with short_tags, but because of issues with on most of installments with turned off directives it was changed to <?php echo ...

[daim2k5]

-1 It think the default value is off for shortcuts

[Schrank]

I prefer short tags too, but Ivan is right, many Magento versions are still running on PHP 5.2

But the comments after me are right.

If all the things are updated, it is a good idea to look forward. Using all the cool new features in PHP 5.3 and 5.4 would be great!

Let's change it!
+1

[Vinai]

Magento 2 is supposed to be open to embrace change and the future. It's better to change the minimal requirements to 5.4 in my opinion. Someone running Magento2 on 5.3 should have no problem enabling short open tags.
The biggest benefit in my eyes is improved readability.

👍 from me!

EDIT: In case you missed it, in PHP 5.4 the "<?= is now always available regardless of the short_open_tag setting." (taken from http://www.php.net/ChangeLog-5.php#5.4.0 in the General Improvements)
We probably all agree that Magento should not be made with unspecialized shared hosts in mind.
I don't see a problem with 5.4 as a requirement if the host is setting up a tuned Magento environment anyway.

[centerax]

I totally agree with Vinai. +1

[Flyingmana]

+1 because a lot of templates I saw were not readable because of the overload of php code

[johnholden]

To play the devil's advocate... Zend forbids them in their coding standard: http://framework.zend.com/manual/1.12/en/coding-standard.coding-style.html

[pavelnovitsky]

• it won't make templates more readable
• until 5.4 is not the minimal requirement this change will cause a lot of questions and broken keyboards. If you think that there is no any problem in enabling short syntax — remember flood of repetitive questions like "switched from php 4 to php 5, site does not work"
• enabling short syntax in php does not make it mandatory
• what about "Short tags were, for a time, the standard in the PHP world; however, they do have
  the major drawback of conflicting with XML headers and, therefore, have somewhat
  fallen by the wayside"? Or I do not know and this issue was solved?

On the other hand almost the same can be told about GD2, PDO, etc.

But any way -1

[mzeis]

I'd like the short echo tags for better readability but this shouldn't be the only reason to bump the requirements up to PHP 5.4. Make use of new features like traits and I'm in for 5.4.
Another reason for PHP 5.4 would be to finally forget about register globals, magic quotes and safe mode.

As for support: Debian Wheezy e.g. will use PHP 5.4.4. That being said it will be a while before PHP 5.4 is widely used by providers. If you plan to release Magento within the next year, there may be problems regarding the PHP version.

[Vinai]

@johnholden It is PSR-1 compliant though: https://github.com/php-fig/fig-standards/blob/master/accepted/PSR-1-basic-coding-standard.md

[Vinai]

@luge The XML parser compatibility problems where caused by the <? opening tag. <?= wasn't the problem.

[benmarks]

To johnholden's point regarding the proscription of short tags in ZF, that is for ZF1 which evolved when short tags might not be available. However, it seems that ZF2 will allow the use of short tags in view scripts.

[LeeSaferite]

+1 on short tags and +1 on 5.4 min version requirement.

As was already mentioned, a version bump to 5.4 would be great as you get things like traits which would be highly useful in Magento.

[johnholden]

@benmarks This is true, but it appears that Magento 2 with be using ZF 1.11, from what I see here on Github.

That said, I'm not opposed to short tags--I just like to keep things consistent. I've spent the last 10 years removing/rejecting short tags because that's what most coding standards have been calling for.

Also there's nothing stopping any individual or agency from using short tags in templates if they prefer.

[SchumacherFM]

+1 for short tags and also for the 5.4!
and +1Mio for ZF2 ;-)