php echo vs open&close tag

Just to clarify: The issues "echo vs print" and "double quotes vs single quotes" are perfectly understood, this is about another thing:

Are there any reasons why one would prefer:

echo '<table>';   
foreach($lotsofrows as $row)
{
    echo '<tr><td>',$row['id'],'</td></tr>';   
}
echo '<table>';

over:

<table><?php
       foreach($lotsofrows as $row)
       { ?>
           <tr>
              <td><?php echo $row['id']; ?></td>
           </tr><?php
       } ?>
</table>

would either one execute/parse faster? is more elegant? (etc.)

I tend to use the second option, but I'm worried I might be overlooking something obvious/essential.

php tags echo

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1 Answer

Benefits of first one

Easier to read
???

Benefits of second one

WYSIWYG is possible
HTML Code Completion/Tag-Matching possible with some IDEs
No escaping headaches
Easier for larger chunks of HTML

If I have a lot of HTML in a given PHP routine (like an MVC view) then I definitely use the 2nd method. But I format it differently - I strictly rely on the tag-like nature of PHP's demarcations, i.e., I make the PHP sections look as much like HTML tags as I can

<table>
  <?php foreach($lotsofrows as $row) { ?>
  <tr>
    <td><?php echo $row['id']; ?></td>
  </tr>
  <?php } ?>
</table>

answered 2009-09-08T15:13:38.257

php echo vs open&close tag

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