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Alternative syntax for control structures

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PHP provides an alternative syntax for some control structures: if, while, for, foreach, and switch.

When compared to the normal syntax, the difference is, that the opening brace is replaced by a colon (:) and the closing brace is replaced by endif;, endwhile;, endfor;, endforeach;, or endswitch;, respectively. For individual examples, see the topic on alternative syntax for control structures. 

if ($a == 42):
    echo "The answer to life, the universe and everything is 42.";
endif;

Multiple elseif statements using short-syntax: 

if ($a == 5):
    echo "a equals 5";
elseif ($a == 6):
    echo "a equals 6";
else:
    echo "a is neither 5 nor 6";
endif;

PHP Manual - Control Structures - Alternative Syntax

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Control structures:
* Control Structures
* if else
* Alternative syntax for control structures
* do-while
* goto
* declare
* while
* include require
* return
* for
* foreach
* if elseif else
* if
* switch
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0 Getting started
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24 Composer dependency manager
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26 Alternative syntax for control structures
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