Use <?php as plain text in a .php file?

Question

I have this.php:

<?php

//some code

?>
Here goes the text that is plain text.
Whenever you use <?php in a .php file it precedes the php code that will be parsed and interpreted by php.

As you may have guessed, this file gives an error and refuses to run correctly. I don't want to use HTML entities as the result file isn't used as HTML. What are my options other than storing the string <?php in a variable?

If the result is not supposed to be used as HTML, then using <?php once for PHP code and once "plain" is ambiguous. Does whatever you're using the result as not support escape sequences of any sort? — deceze
– deceze ♦, Commented Sep 10, 2014 at 14:23
@deceze, no just plain text, I'm generating PHP code from PHP itself. — datasn.io
– datasn.io, Commented Sep 10, 2014 at 14:28
@kavoir.com — Sounds like you'd be better off using something like memcached. — Quentin
– Quentin, Commented Sep 10, 2014 at 14:37
I concur. Generating code is virtually always a bad idea, with the only exception being something like scaffolding tools which a developer uses to get started quickly. A regular application shouldn't be generating new code on the fly, there's always a way to do without that. — deceze
– deceze ♦, Commented Sep 10, 2014 at 14:39

Quentin · Accepted Answer · 2014-09-10 14:20:16Z

4

Generate it programatically using a string literal.

<?php echo "<?php"; ?>

answered Sep 10, 2014 at 14:20

Quentin

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6 Comments

datasn.io Over a year ago

I suppose then it's best to store it in a variable? As I'm generating PHP code from PHP and there will be more than one occasions to use <?php in plain text. I thought there were some native ways to do this, such as a backslash or something.

Quentin Over a year ago

PHP has no special "Output the string <?php" mechanism, and plain text files have no way to escape the text, so there isn't a native way.

user3524542 Over a year ago

Heredocs might be what you are looking for. It is good for a long text without the trouble of escaping quotations or anything else.

Funk Forty Niner Over a year ago

Sidenote: Only Here goes the text that is plain text. Whenever you use will echo on screen. The complete Whenever you use <?php in a .php file it precedes the php code that will be parsed and interpreted by php. will only appear in the HTML source, whether that is OP's wish or not.

Quentin Over a year ago

@DeeJay' — You can just put the big chuck outside the ?><?php and only go into that for echoing out the string <?php itself. More importantly, there is no other way (except variables, but they aren't significantly different).

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