End a php tag without die() or exit()

Question

I was wondering if PHP has a function that allows me to end a process before it reaches the "?>" tag, example:

<?php

    echo 'first';

    endphptag();

    echo 'second';

?>

third

<?php

    echo 'fourth';

?>

Then the output should be:

first

third

fourth

I know that some people consider this as something useless, but I want to do it for a validation script on an iframe instead of use the die or exit function because it kills the whole script, I just want to end a part of it.

Normally I use if - else instead, but I want to avoid them because the processes are large and I want something more readable, by the way I use if - die in my ajax scripts and I want to use something like this in my iframes too, Thank's!

---

Well, I just wanted to know if PHP already had a proper function for it (it seems not), so I think I will just leave it with if - elses, because is not really worth to use more process for make it "more readable" (ex: try - catches uses too much resources, I'm not going to go-tos neither). My doubt was only for that, I will only use this procesdure in my ajax files using the die function (I don't know if it is recommended, but I think there's no problem because PHP should have it for some reason)

Answer 1

Exceptions is what you are looking for:

try {
    // code
} catch (Exception $e) {
    // handling
}

You put your code inside the try block and you end it throwing an exception with throw new Exception();, and it exits only the rest of the code inside the try block.

Your code would then be:

<?php
    try {
        echo 'first';
        throw new Exception();
        echo 'second';
    } catch (Exception $e) {}
?>
third
<?php
    echo 'fourth';
?>