how to nest PHP code blocks - php

Question

This code is broken because I am nesting php code blocks. What is the proper way to do this?
<?php
if ($prev_ID > $totalRows_totalBoogerRows)
{
echo "";
}
else
{
echo <<<_END
<div class='paging_button_left paging_button_left_episode'>
<a href='episode.php?post_ID=<?php echo $prev_ID; ?>'>
<h4 style='text-align: right;'>Ep. <?php echo $prev_ID; ?>
</h4>
</a>
</div>"
_END;
}
?>
I breaks on line 11 because my closing PHP tag closes the first PHP opening tag on line one (I want it to only close the opening PHP tag on line 11). Also, I may be using <<<_END wrong.

Answer 1

When you are echoing a string that needs php variables inserted, do not open and close php tags but use string concatenation:
<?php
if ($prev_ID > $totalRows_totalBoogerRows)
{
echo "";
}
else
{
echo "
<div class='paging_button_left paging_button_left_episode'>
<a href='episode.php?post_ID=".$prev_ID."'>
<h4 style='text-align: right;'>Ep. ".$prev_ID."</h4>
</a>
</div>";
}
?>

Answer 2

So why don't you use this?
<?php if(something): ?>
HTML
<?php else: ?>
HTML
<?php endif ?>
So:
<?php if ( $prev_ID <= $totalRows_totalBoogerRows ): ?>
<div class='paging_button_left paging_button_left_episode'>
<a href='episode.php?post_ID=<?php echo $prev_ID ?>'>
<h4 style='text-align: right;'>Ep. <?php echo $prev_ID ?></h4>
</a>
</div>
<?php endif ?>

Answer 3

Your heredoc terminating token _END is in wrong place. There must not be any white space before it.
See the warning from PHP.NET manualString.Syntax.Heredoc.
It is very important to note that the line with the closing identifier must contain no other characters, except possibly a semicolon (;). That means especially that the identifier may not be indented, and there may not be any spaces or tabs before or after the semicolon. It's also important to realize that the first character before the closing identifier must be a newline as defined by the local operating system. This is \n on UNIX systems, including Mac OS X. The closing delimiter (possibly followed by a semicolon) must also be followed by a newline.
Also when you use heredoc the string gets evaluated as double quoted string. So you can use variables inside like this.
echo <<<_END
<div class='paging_button_left paging_button_left_episode'>
<a href='episode.php?post_ID=$prev_ID'>
<h4 style='text-align: right;'>Ep. $prev_ID
</h4>
</a>
</div>
_END;

Answer 4

Just close and reopen PHP tags
<?php
if ($prev_ID > $totalRows_totalBoogerRows)
{
echo "";
}
else
{?>
<div class='paging_button_left paging_button_left_episode'>
<a href='episode.php?post_ID=<?php echo $prev_ID; ?>'>
<h4 style='text-align: right;'>Ep. <?php echo $prev_ID; ?>
</h4>
</a>
</div>
<?php}
?>

Answer 5

try this ,
<?php
if ($prev_ID > $totalRows_totalBoogerRows)
{
echo "";
}
else
{
echo <<<_END
<div class='paging_button_left paging_button_left_episode'>
<a href='episode.php?post_ID='.echo $prev_ID;'>
<h4 style='text-align: right;'>Ep. echo $prev_ID;
</h4>
</a>
</div>"
_END;
}
?>

Answer 6

try this :
if ($prev_ID > $totalRows_totalBoogerRows)
{
echo "";
}
else
{
echo "
<div class='paging_button_left paging_button_left_episode'>
<a href='episode.php?post_ID=\"$prev_ID\"'>
<h4 style='text-align: right;'>Ep. \"$prev_ID\"
</h4>
</a>
</div>
";
}