Store inline HTML within variable in PHP

Question

I was wondering, mostly because I think I've seen it before somewhere, if it is possible to store HTML within a variable, something like the following (I know this makes no sense, it's just to clarify my question):

<? $var = ' ?>
text goes here
<? '; ?>

And then $var would equal text goes here

If possible you should avoid this. Embed PHP into HTML not vice versa. — Felix Kling
– Felix Kling, Commented Jun 9, 2011 at 13:54
@Felix Kling: why would you recommend Embedding PHP into HTML and not vice versa? — Nightwolf
– Nightwolf, Commented Jun 9, 2011 at 14:01
@Nightwolf: Because creating endless HTML strings is error prone (e.g. escaping of quotes). You will most likely also loose syntax highlighting if you use an IDE. Granted, with heredoc it might not be that bad, but there is barely a reason to not write HTML the "normal" way and just echo the data where it should be. It is a better separation of logic and presentation. — Felix Kling
– Felix Kling, Commented Jun 9, 2011 at 14:05
@Felix Kling, what I want to use this for is for newsletter templates that require a php configuration for my system as well as a HTML template. I'd like these two to be included in the same php file without losing my HTML syntax coloring. I figured this was a great solution. — Kokos
– Kokos, Commented Jun 9, 2011 at 14:26

Niklas · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-09 13:54:31Z

16

You could do that using output buffering. Have a look at the examples at ob_get_contents() and ob_start().

<? ob_start(); ?>

All kinds of stuff, maybe some <?= "php"; ?> etc.

<? $var = ob_get_contents(); ?>

answered Jun 9, 2011 at 13:54

Niklas

30k5 gold badges54 silver badges74 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

3 Comments

Kokos Over a year ago

This is the one I was looking for, heredoc solves my problem as well but leaves the code colored like php in Dreamweaver which was one of the reasons I wanted this.

Kokos Over a year ago

One thing is also needed though, without ob_end_clean(); the original HTML will still be outputted.

fabio Over a year ago

Or even you can just use ob_get_clean() instead of doing ob_get_contents() + ob_end_clean()

jensgram · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-09 13:55:03Z

6

You may be thinking of the Heredoc syntax:

<?php
$var = <<<EOD
text goes here
EOD;
?>

edited Jun 9, 2011 at 13:55

answered Jun 9, 2011 at 13:53

jensgram

31.6k6 gold badges83 silver badges101 bronze badges

4 Comments

Eric Over a year ago

Note that this will generate the string "\ttext goes here\n\t". Be careful of whitespace.

Blagovest Buyukliev Over a year ago

The trailing EOD should not be indented, it should be on the first column. Also, this way the text will contain spaces in front.

jensgram Over a year ago

@Eric Good point. I edited out the tabs, though (thanks for your initial edit - I forgot) since the EOD; must (AFAIR) be at the start of the line.

jensgram Over a year ago

@Blagovest Buyukliev Yes, this was due to an edit collision :)

Eric · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-09 13:56:53Z

0

Check out this facebook blog post on XHP, a language that allows XML literals within PHP code.

answered Jun 9, 2011 at 13:56

Eric

98.1k54 gold badges257 silver badges389 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Store inline HTML within variable in PHP

3 Answers 3

3 Comments

4 Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

3 Answers 3

3 Comments

4 Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related