PHP unterstützt 'C', 'C++' und Unix-Shell-artige (Perl-artige) Kommentare. Zum Beispiel:
<?php
echo "Dies ist ein Test"; // Dies ist ein einzeiliger Kommentar im C++-Stil
/* Dies ist ein mehrzeiliger Kommentar
noch eine weitere Kommentar-Zeile */
echo 'Dies ist noch ein Test';
echo '... und ein letzter Test'; # Dies ist ein einzeiliger Shell-Kommentar
?>
Die "einzeiligen" Kommentar-Arten kommentieren sämtlichen Text bis zum Zeilenende oder bis zum Ende des aktuellen PHP-Blocks aus, je nachdem, was zuerst eintritt. Das bedeutet, das HTML-Code nach // ..?> oder # ... ?> ausgegeben WIRD: ?> beendet den PHP-Modus und kehrt in den HTML-Modus zurück, so dass sich // oder # nicht nicht darauf auswirkt. Wenn die asp_tags Konfigurations-Direktive eingeschaltet ist, verhält es sich genauso bei // %> und # %>. Jedoch beendet das </script>-Tag den PHP-Modus innerhalb eines einzeiligen Kommentars nicht.
<h1>Dies ist ein <?php # echo 'einfaches';?> Beispiel.</h1>
<p>Obige Überschrift wird lauten: 'Dies ist ein Beispiel.'.
'C'-artige Kommentare enden am ersten Vorkommen von */. Achten Sie daher darauf, 'C'-artige Kommentare nicht zu verschachteln. Dieser Fehler entsteht leicht, wenn Sie längere Code-Blöcke auskommentieren.
<?php
/*
echo 'Dies ist ein Test'; /* Dieser Kommentar wird ein Problem verursachen. */
*/
?>
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
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).
This regex should do the job when trying to parse comments
(\/\*(.*?)\*\/)|(^|\s+)\/\/(.*?)(\n|$)|(^|\s+)#(.*?)(\n|$)
If you are using editor with code highlight, it’s much easier to notice error like /* */ */.
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.
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");
}
?>
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>";
*/
//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 end-block tag, which is correct reading this documentation.
cheers,
martin
PS: You even see the behavior in the Syntax highlighting :-)
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 */
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).
If you want to comment out large sections of code (temporarily, usually and hopefully), consider using
<?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.
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.
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 $bar;
}
// */
sort($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;
}
// */
?>
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
/*
$f->setPattern('/^\d.*/');
*/
?>