Putting html and PHP code inside a variable

Question

I have this code that produces a table exactly how I want it. I want to put this whole code assigned to a PHP variable e.g.: $table=the posted code. I tried concatenating and heredoc but couldn't get it to output my table as it is when doing and echo $table;. Any input is appreciated

<table id=patients>
    <tr>
        <th>Pt. username</th>
        <th>Pt. number</th>
        <th>Full Name</th>
        <th>Added on</th>
    </tr>


   <?php    $x=1;
   foreach ($users as $patient) {

   ?> <tr <?php if ($x % 2 == 0) {echo "class='alt'"; } ?>>
        <td> <a href="profile.php?username=<?php echo $patient['username'];?>"><?php echo $patient['username'];?></a></td>
        <td> <?php echo $patient['id'];?></td>
        <td> <?php echo $patient['name'];?></td>
        <td> <?php echo $patient['joined'];?></td>
    </tr>

    <?php
       $x++;
        } ?>
</table>

John Conde · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-04 02:56:48Z

3

Just use output buffering to put the output into the internal buffer and then capture it.

<?php
  ob_start();
?>
<table id=patients>
    <tr>
        <th>Pt. username</th>
        <th>Pt. number</th>
        <th>Full Name</th>
        <th>Added on</th>
    </tr>


   <?php    $x=1;
   foreach ($users as $patient) {

   ?> <tr <?php if ($x % 2 == 0) {echo "class='alt'"; } ?>>
        <td> <a href="profile.php?username=<?php echo $patient['username'];?>"><?php echo $patient['username'];?></a></td>
        <td> <?php echo $patient['id'];?></td>
        <td> <?php echo $patient['name'];?></td>
        <td> <?php echo $patient['joined'];?></td>
    </tr>

    <?php
       $x++;
        } ?>
</table>
<?php
    $table = ob_get_clean();
?>

answered Mar 4, 2014 at 2:56

John Conde

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2 Comments

user557846 Over a year ago

i always consider using output buffering a bit of a hack in such cases. but that's just me

bansi Over a year ago

@Dagon if you don't use output buffering here the code may become very messy (introducing unnecessary bugs to a perfectly working piece of code), just my view

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