PHP: Comments - Manual

http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.basic-syntax.comments.php

[edit] Last updated: Fri, 20 Apr 2012

Comments
PHP supports 'C', 'C++' and Unix shell-style (Perl style) comments. For example:

<?php echo 'This is a test'; // This is a one-line c++ style comment /* This is a multi line comment yet another line of comment */ echo 'This is yet another test'; echo 'One Final Test'; # This is a one-line shell-style comment ?> The "one-line" comment styles only comment to the end of the line or the current block of PHP code, whichever comes first. This means that HTML code after // ... ?> or # ... ?> WILL be printed: ?> breaks out of PHP mode and returns to HTML mode, and // or # cannot influence that. If the asp_tags configuration directive is enabled, it behaves the same with // %> and # %>. However, the </script> tag doesn't break out of PHP mode in a one-line comment.

<h1>This is an <?php # echo 'simple';?> example</h1> <p>The header above will say 'This is an example'.</p> 'C' style comments end at the first */ encountered. Make sure you don't nest 'C' style comments. It is easy to make this mistake if you are trying to comment out a large block of code.

<?php /* echo 'This is a test'; /* This comment will cause a problem */ */ ?>

User Contributed Notes

Comments

team at researchbib dot com 13-Sep-2011 07:25

1 of 8

26/04/2012 11:03

PHP: Comments - Manual

http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.basic-syntax.comments.php

when the comment string contains '?>', you should be careful. e.g. output code 1= code 2 is different with code 3 1. with // <?php // echo '<?php ?>'; ?> 2. with # <?php // echo '<?php ?>'; ?> 3. with /* */ <?php /* echo '<?php ?>';*/ ?> philip-php at dago dot yourweb dot de 05-Mar-2011 10:29 It's true, comments do not take up PROCESSING time, but they do take some PARSING time in case you are not using a compile cache of some kind. jballard at natoga dot com 15-Dec-2010 02:28 Comments do NOT take up processing power. So, for all the people who argue that comments are undesired because they take up processing power now have no reason to comment ;) <?php // Control

2 of 8

26/04/2012 11:03

PHP: Comments - Manual

http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.basic-syntax.comments.php

echo microtime(), "<br />"; // 0.25163600 1292450508 echo microtime(), "<br />"; // 0.25186000 1292450508 // Test echo microtime(), "<br />"; // 0.25189700 1292450508 # TEST TEST TEST TEST TEST TEST TEST TEST TEST TEST TEST TEST TEST TEST TEST TEST TEST TEST TEST # .. Above comment repeated 18809 times .. echo microtime(), "<br />"; // 0.25192100 1292450508 ?> They take up about the same amount of time (about meaning on a repeated testing, sometimes the difference between the control and the test was negative and sometimes positive). benny at bennyborn dot de 08-Dec-2010 03:16 This regex should do the job when trying to parse comments (\/\*(.*?)\*\/)|(^|\s+)\/\/(.*?)(\n|$)|(^|\s+)#(.*?)(\n|$) Wolfsbay at ya dot ru 12-May-2010 02:10 If you are using editor with code highlight, its much easier to notice error like /* */ */. theblazingangel at aol dot com 28-Aug-2007 03:55 it's perhaps not obvious to some, but the following code will cause a parse error! the ?> in //?> is not treated as commented text, this is a result of having to handle code on one line such as <?php echo 'something'; //comment ?> <?php if(1==1) { //?> } ?> i discovered this "anomally" when i commented out a line of code containing a regex which itself contained ?>, with the // style comment. e.g. //preg_match('/^(?>c|b)at$/', 'cat', $matches); will cause an error while commented! using /**/ style comments provides a solution. i don't know about # style comments, i don't ever personally use them. fun at nybbles dot com 13-Jul-2006 10:28

3 of 8

26/04/2012 11:03

PHP: Comments - Manual

http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.basic-syntax.comments.php

a trick I have used in all languages to temporarily block out large sections (usually for test/debug/new-feature purposes), is to set (or define) a var at the top, and use that to conditionally comment the blocks; an added benefit over if(0) (samuli's comment from nov'05) is that u can have several versions or tests running at once, and u dont require cleanup later if u want to keep the blocks in: just reset the var. personally, I use this more to conditionally include code for new feature testing, than to block it out,,,, but hey, to each their own :) this is also the only safe way I know of to easily nest comments in any language, and great for multi-file use, if the conditional variables are placed in an include :) for example, placed at top of file: <?php $ver3 = TRUE; $debug2 = FALSE; ?> and then deeper inside the file: <?php if ($ver3) { print("This code is included since we are testing version 3"); } ?> <?php if ($debug2) { print("This code is 'commented' out"); } ?> mst_NO_SPAM_TO_ME at mstsoft dot com 05-Jun-2006 05:38 This "comment ends on line break or end of PHP Block" thing can be confusing. I discovered this by accident when working with XML Output from PHP... <?PHP header("Content-type: text/xml"); /* echo "<?xml version=\"1.0\"?>"; echo "<page>multi-line comments work as expected.</page>";

4 of 8

26/04/2012 11:03

PHP: Comments - Manual

http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.basic-syntax.comments.php

*/ //echo "<?xml version=\"1.0\"?>"; //echo "<page>single-line comments end php mode and output your code.</page>"; ?> I would expect the comment to work, but there is no parsing in comments so the String suddenly becomes a PHP correct reading this documentation. cheers, martin PS: You even see the behavior in the Syntax highlighting :-) J Lee 25-May-2006 11:39 MSpreij (8-May-2005) says /* .. */ overrides // Anonymous (26-Jan-2006) says // overrides /* .. */ Actually, both are correct. Once a comment is opened, *everything* is ignored until the end of the comment (or the end of the php block) is reached. Thus, if a comment is opened with: // then /* and */ are "overridden" until after end-of-line /* then // is "overridden" until after */ 21-Jan-2006 01:46 M Spreij wrote, 08-May-2005 08:15... A nice way to toggle the commenting of blocks of code can be done by mixing the two comment styles: ... This works because a /* .. */ overrides //. The final sentence should be the other way round, i.e. This works because a // overrides /* .. */. (If it didn't the /* .. */ would comment out the code regardless of whether an additional '/' is prefixed to the first line). samuli dot karevaara at lamk dot fi 11-Nov-2005 08:30 If you want to comment out large sections of code (temporarily, usually and hopefully), consider using end-block tag, which is

5 of 8

26/04/2012 11:03

PHP: Comments - Manual

http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.basic-syntax.comments.php

<?php if (0) { print("This code is 'commented' out"); } ?> instead of /* comment block */. Otherwise, as noted here, you will have parse errors if the block that you commented out contains */ somewhere, like in regexp or in another comment. hcderaad at wanadoo dot nl 29-Jun-2005 01:51 Comments in PHP can be used for several purposes, a very interesting one being that you can generate API documentation directly from them by using PHPDocumentor (http://www.phpdoc.org/). Therefor one has to use a JavaDoc-like comment syntax (conforms to the DocBook DTD), example: <?php /** * The second * here opens the DocBook commentblock, which could later on<br> * in your development cycle save you a lot of time by preventing you having to rewrite<br> * major documentation parts to generate some usable form of documentation. */ ?> Some basic html-like formatting is supported with this (ie <br> tags) to create something of a layout. M Spreij 08-May-2005 12:15 A nice way to toggle the commenting of blocks of code can be done by mixing the two comment styles: <?php //* if ($foo) { echo $bar; } // */ sort($morecode); ?> Now by taking out one / on the first line.. <?php /* if ($foo) { echo $bar;

6 of 8

26/04/2012 11:03

PHP: Comments - Manual

http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.basic-syntax.comments.php

} // */ sort($morecode); ?> ..the block is suddenly commented out. This works because a /* .. */ overrides //. You can even "flip" two blocks, like this: <?php //* if ($foo) { echo $bar; } /*/ if ($bar) { echo $foo; } // */ ?> vs <?php /* if ($foo) { echo $bar; } /*/ if ($bar) { echo $foo; } // */ ?> Steve 15-Dec-2004 04:41 Be careful when commenting out regular expressions. E.g. the following causes a parser error. I do prefer using # as regexp delimiter anyway so it won't hurt me ;-) <?php /*

7 of 8

26/04/2012 11:03

PHP: Comments - Manual

http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.basic-syntax.comments.php

$f->setPattern('/^\d.*/); */ ?>

Copyright 2001-2012 The PHP Group All rights reserved.

8 of 8

26/04/2012 11:03