This is documented behaviour, and with a reason (to allow better formatting of php code without ruining the layout of the output)

RTFM: http://uk.php.net/manual/en/language.basic-syntax.php#language.basic-syntax.phpmode

(admittingly, it's just a very small sentence...)

I'd like another look at this issue, since the documentation seems to clash with actual behavior.

Using a CLI compiled 4.3.0 binary, this script:

#!/bin/psh
<?php

$foo = 'Hello';
$bar = 'World';

?>

<?=$foo?>
<?=$bar?>

<?php

echo 'DONE!';

?>


This script will produce:

<empty line>
HelloWorld
DONE![unix prompt]$

Note that there is no trailing space (x20) after <?=$foo?> and <?=$bar?>  -  only a newline (x0A)

According to http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.basic-syntax.php#language.basic-syntax.phpmode

"The closing tag for the block will include the immediately trailing newline if one is present."

Now if I add a x20 after the closing tag, then the newlines is honored.  Why does this behavior make any sense?  Especially since the aforementioned URL has statements like "...because when PHP hits the ?> closing tags, it simply starts outputting whatever it finds until it hits another opening tag" throughout.  Obviously, however, this isn't true, since PHP decides to ignore the newline immediately after the closing tag.

I don't understand why this behavior would be desired anyway; what is outside the PHP tags should simply be passed through.  And especially since the docs are misleading about this.

Thank you,

Hans