If statement inside echoed html not showing inside the html - php

Question

I want to shorten a string when it's longer than a certain length for example 20.
But when I add the if statement to my echoed html it outputs the result outside of the echoed html. Any idea why this happens?
My code:
foreach($contentcr as $content)
{
$contentje .= '<li class="job_listing">
<a href="http://www.website.nl/_extern/website/content.php?alias='.$content['alias'].'">
<div class="location job_img">
<img src="images/samples/person1.jpg" alt="" class="company_logo">
</div>
<div class="location boldfont">
'.$content['title'].'
</div>
<div class="location">
'.$content['fulltext'].'';
if (strlen($content['fulltext']) >= 20){
echo 'blala';
}
$contentje .='</div>
<div class="rating location">
<div class="rating-stars">
<i class="fa fa-star"></i>
<i class="fa fa-star"></i>
<i class="fa fa-star"></i>
<i class="fa fa-star"></i>
<i class="fa fa-star"></i>
</div>
</div>
<div class="location">
'.$content['metakey'].'
</div>
<div class="location">
<button type="submit" class="btn btn-primary buttonblock" onClick="location.href="http://www.website.nl/_extern/website/content.php?page="'.$content['alias'].'">Nu huren</button>
</div>
</a>
</li>'; // Here
}
This is a table like structure, but the output of the if statement is echoed outside the html markup.

Answer 1

You are echoing the string inside if statement rather than appending that to your $contentje variable. See if statement below:
foreach($contentcr as $content)
{
$contentje .= '<li class="job_listing">
<a href="http://www.website.nl/_extern/website/content.php?alias='.$content['alias'].'">
<div class="location job_img">
<img src="images/samples/person1.jpg" alt="" class="company_logo">
</div>
<div class="location boldfont">
'.$content['title'].'
</div>
<div class="location">
'.$content['fulltext'].'';
if (strlen($content['fulltext']) >= 20){
$contentje .= 'blala';
}
$contentje .='</div>
<div class="rating location">
<div class="rating-stars">
<i class="fa fa-star"></i>
<i class="fa fa-star"></i>
<i class="fa fa-star"></i>
<i class="fa fa-star"></i>
<i class="fa fa-star"></i>
</div>
</div>
<div class="location"> '.$content['metakey'].'</div>
<div class="location">
<button type="submit" class="btn btn-primary buttonblock" onClick="location.href="http://www.website.nl/_extern/website/content.php?page="'.$content['alias'].'">Nu huren</button>
</div>
</a></li>'; // Here
}