Title: Question about PHP coding – using several <?php ?>
Last modified: August 19, 2016

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# Question about PHP coding – using several <?php ?>

 *  Resolved [OM2](https://wordpress.org/support/users/om2/)
 * (@om2)
 * [16 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/question-about-php-coding-using-several-ltphp-gt/)
 * I see this type of coding all over the place in WordPress:
 *     ```
       <?php if (!is_paged() && is_home()) { ?>current_page_item<?php } else { ?>page_item<?php } ?>" id="header-menu-home"><a href="<?php echo get_settings('home'); ?>/"><?php _e('HOME','piano-black'); ?></a>
       ```
   
 * I’m confused!
    I always thought every bit of PHP code was self contained – i.
   e. start with <?php and end with ?> I thought all code went in there
 * Is it OK to start and stop code as above and have several instances of <?php ?
   >
    (Obviously it must be!) Do variables carry over from one instance to another?
 * **ALSO**: WHY would you want to do it the way above? Why not have everything 
   inside one <?php ?>
 * THANKS!
 * Omar

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

 *  [Mark / t31os](https://wordpress.org/support/users/t31os_/)
 * (@t31os_)
 * [16 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/question-about-php-coding-using-several-ltphp-gt/#post-1399922)
 *     ```
       <?php // Anything here is treated as PHP code ?>
       Anything here is treated as HTML
       <?php // Again anything here is treated as PHP ?>
       And again anything here is treated as HTML
       ```
   
 * When you’re writing code for a template file for example, there may be a large
   amount of HTML, in such a case it may be easier for you(whoever is editting the
   code) to understand or change in the above format over a pure PHP equivalent..
 * I think it’s simply down to preference… although usually i find the PHP approach
   easier myself, i generally write in the above format when giving examples, it’s
   more fool proof and easier to read/understand when it comes to users not familiar
   with code.. (at least i found that to be the case)..
 * For what it’s worth, i did ask this question myself some time ago, and the above
   is the conclusion i came to, other peoples reasons may differ to mine.
 *  [Michael](https://wordpress.org/support/users/alchymyth/)
 * (@alchymyth)
 * [16 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/question-about-php-coding-using-several-ltphp-gt/#post-1399923)
 * that above code is actually switching from php to html to php to html to php 
   to html …..
 * so, everytime the php tag is closed, some html code starts (which could be just
   plain text, or as in your example, some part of a class in a div).
 * if you want to write everything in one php tag, you could use ‘echo’ to display
   the html parts, but this might not be very easy to read, as well.
 *  Thread Starter [OM2](https://wordpress.org/support/users/om2/)
 * (@om2)
 * [16 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/question-about-php-coding-using-several-ltphp-gt/#post-1399975)
 * guys, thanks for the replies
    thats really helpful actually – i had no idea u
   could do that
 * i used to use <<<
 * i.e.
 * > <?php
   > // php code here
   > echo <<<myDefaultString
   >  // lots of html code myDefaultString;
   > // more php code here
   > ?>
 * i have to admit: i much prefer the other way – the way i was doing it was always
   a bit buggy – miss an odd character and everyhting doesn’t work
    this way: i 
   think it’s easier to read
 * thanks!! 🙂

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

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## Tags

 * [php coding](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/php-coding/)

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 3 replies
 * 3 participants
 * Last reply from: [OM2](https://wordpress.org/support/users/om2/)
 * Last activity: [16 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/question-about-php-coding-using-several-ltphp-gt/#post-1399975)
 * Status: resolved

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