PHP - Colon Syntax

The colon syntax can be useful when in project views/partials where you are mixing html and php. Below are some examples for quick reference.

If statements

<?php if ($a == 5): ?>
A is equal to 5
<?php elseif ($a == 6): ?>
A is equal to 6
<?php endif; ?>

While Loops

<?php while ($i <= 10): ?>
<tr>
    <td><?php print $i; $i++ ?></td>
</tr>
<?php endwhile; ?>

For Loops

The following will create 10 table cells numbered 1 to 10.

<?php for ($i=1; $i<=10; $i++): ?>
<tr>
    <td><?= $i; ?></td>
</tr>
<?php endfor; ?>

Switch Statements

You can use colon syntax with switch statements but you (or someone else) are likely to break it later, accidentally with whitespace, so I'm not putting an example here.

References

• Alternative syntax for control structures
• PHP Docs - while
• PHP Docs - for