should I put a semi-colon after a single PHP statement?

开发者_运维知识库

e.g.

some html....
<p class="date"><?php echo $date; ?></p>
more html...

?

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It might be better to always use a semi-colon :

• Lowers the probability of errors if you need to extend your code in the specific section.
• Improves readability of code

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I find that not doing so can:

1. Break syntax highlighting in some editors / IDE (not critical, but annoying)
2. Make code harder to maintain.

So yes, I recommend doing so, unless you are sure short tags are fine for the server config in which case its not really relevant.

When editing other people's stuff, I try to just follow the same style.

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This particular little idiosyncrasy is discussed in the instruction separation manual page.

The bottom line is that it's not enforced either way, so it's left up to the programmer. It's a decent item to touch on in any sort of PHP coding standard, but as far as standards go, it's a relatively minor issue.

Personally, I have started always using a trailing semi-colon. It's easier on your IDE, and helps avoid those quick little parse errors when you jump into a template and start appending code (especially in a verbose template, that might not have user-friendly line wrapping).

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It's really up to you. I do, as it helps me with code readability.

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I'd recommend it, if for no other reason than it's a good habit to get into, like properly indenting html.