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Proper Indentation

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Submitted on: 3/5/2001 8:39:35 PM
By: Steve Oliver 
Level: Beginner
User Rating: By 6 Users
Compatibility: PHP 3.0, PHP 4.0
Views: 19542
(About the author)
 
     Teaches the basics of Proper Indentation in your php source.
 
 
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				I think it is a basic coding standard to Indent each function, loop, etc. This not only helps others that may be working with your source, But it also helps when you go back and look at your source. Below are some examples of right and wrong.



wrong way:

if($foo==""){$var="1");}

should be:

if($foo=="")

{

   $var="1";

}



wrong way:

While(List($blah)=mysql_fetch_row($results)){

if($blah==""){echo $blah;}else{echo "none";}}



should be:

While(List($blah)=mysql_fetch_row($results))

{

 if($blah=="")

 {

   echo $blah;

 }

 else

 {

   echo "none";

 }

}



wrong way:

function doit($var){

if($var==""){$var="false";}else{$var="true";}

return $var;}



should be:

function doit($var)

{

 if($var=="")

 {

   $var="false";

 }

 else

 {

   $var="true";

 }

 return $var;

}



I think you get the basic Idea. Although it may seem long and drawn out, trust me, it will help you in the long run.


-Steve


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Other User Comments

3/8/2001 10:33:35 PM: Shaun

Steve is right, although it may seem like more coding up front, it'll help you later when you need to read your code. And if you're publishing code that someone else will be reading or using, it becomes even more important that it's formatted in an easy-to-read manner.

Another common convention is to place the opening brace on the same line as the start of the function definition, loop call, etc:

while(1){
echo
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9/7/2001 7:34:59 AM: Matthias

I agree to Shaun, that there is not only one way to format source code. I use the same formatting as Shaun 
function xyz()
{
  print 
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9/13/2001 9:58:43 PM: Rob Loach

I have a habbit of doing:

if($var==""){
$var="false";
}

(having the first bracket on the first line)
I find that this is very good. I know that it is neater to have the bracket on a new line, but I really don't like to scrool up and down my code alot.
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11/19/2002 1:04:09 PM: Drat911

Identation this way is WAY too many useless lines. Identation should look like this:

while (blah) {
if (blah) {
do_this_func();
}
}

Simple to read, and notice I didn't use half the page to show off brackets on each line? :)
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11/19/2002 1:06:07 PM: Drat911

forget that post, the form didn't properly show how I indented.
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7/9/2003 6:32:07 AM: 

if ($blah == "blah") {
// Do something
}

Thats how I do it
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7/9/2003 6:33:07 AM: 

Gah, it doesnt parse hmm
\n if ($blah == "blah") {
\n // Do something
\n }
\n
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2/24/2006 11:05:23 AM: NDawg

Keep in mind that PHP is an interpreted scripting language. Every time a client requests a document, PHP has to strip out the useless white-space. So, it makes sense to code a program with proper indentation, but all “production releases” should be optimized with some sort of optimizer program. For example, the program could rename all variables to 2 or 3 character variables and delete all useless white-space.
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2/24/2006 11:05:37 AM: NDawg

Keep in mind that PHP is an interpreted scripting language. Every time a client requests a document, PHP has to strip out the useless white-space. So, it makes sense to code a program with proper indentation, but all "production releases" should be optimized with some sort of optimizer program. For example, the program could rename all variables to 2 or 3 character variables and delete all useless white-space.
(If this comment was disrespectful, please report it.)
 
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