PHP tags

Learn to embed PHP code in HTML with <?php and ?> tags.

To embed PHP code in HTML you use PHP tags. The standard opening tag is <?php and the closing tag is ?>.

Everything between these tags is interpreted as PHP code. Anything outside the tags is output as plain text.

Example: <?php 42 ?> is a valid PHP block. The <?php tag works on every server; short tags like <? may be disabled on some servers.

Closing tag and plain text

A PHP block opens with <?php and closes with ?>. Everything after the closing tag is output as plain text.

If a file contains only PHP code, omitting the closing tag is recommended; this avoids unwanted whitespace at the end of the file.

You can mix PHP and HTML in the same file. Example: <p><?php 42 ?></p> — here <p> is HTML and <?php 42 ?> is a PHP block.