php variable in html no other way than: <?php echo $var; ?>

Question

I work a lot in mixed HTML and PHP and most time I just want solid HTML with a few PHP variables in it so my code look like this:

<tr><td> <input type="hidden" name="type" value="<?php echo $var; ?>" ></td></tr> 

Which is quite ugly. Isn't there something shorter, more like the following?

<tr><td> <input type="hidden" name="type" value="$$var" ></td></tr> 

This is possible to but you get stuck with the "" (you have to replace them all with '') and the layout is gone

echo "<tr><td> <input type="hidden" name="type" value="$var" ></td></tr>" 

Is there anything better?

Answer 1

There's the short tag version of your code, which is now completely acceptable to use despite antiquated recommendations otherwise:

<input type="hidden" name="type" value="<?= $var ?>" > 

which (prior to PHP 5.4) requires short tags be enabled in your php configuration. It functions exactly as the code you typed; these lines are literally identical in their internal implementation:

<?= $var1, $var2 ?> <?php echo $var1, $var2 ?> 

That's about it for built-in solutions. There are plenty of 3rd party template libraries that make it easier to embed data in your output, smarty is a good place to start.

Answer 2

Use the HEREDOC syntax. You can mix single and double quotes, variables and even function calls with unaltered / unescaped html markup.

echo <<<MYTAG   <tr><td> <input type="hidden" name="type" value="$var1" ></td></tr>   <tr><td> <input type="hidden" name="type" value="$var2" ></td></tr>   <tr><td> <input type="hidden" name="type" value="$var3" ></td></tr>   <tr><td> <input type="hidden" name="type" value="$var4" ></td></tr> MYTAG;