====== PHP RFC: Remove alternative PHP tags ======
  * Date: 2014-09-09
  * Author: Nikita Popov <nikic@php.net>
  * Status: Accepted
  * Targeting: PHP 7
  * Patch: https://github.com/php/php-src/pull/813

===== Proposal =====

This RFC proposes the removal of ASP tags (''<%'') and script tags (''<script language=php>'') as a means of entering or leaving PHP mode.

The following syntactical elements are removed:

  * ''<%'' opening tag
  * ''<%='' opening tag with echo
  * ''%>'' closing tag
  * ''%%(<script\s+language\s*=\s*(php|"php"|'php')\s*>)i%%'' opening tag
  * ''(</script>)i'' closing tag

The listed opening tags will no longer enter PHP mode and the listed closing tags will no longer leave PHP mode.

Additionally the ''asp_tags'' ini directive is removed. Trying to enable ''asp_tags'' will result in a core error.

This RFC does //**not**// remove short opening tags (''<?'') or short opening tags with echo (''<?='').

===== Reasoning =====

  * The alternative PHP tags have never gained any significant degree of usage. Their usage has been discouraged since forever.
  * The ASP tags depend on an ini directive and as such are non-portable. We generally try to move away from ini-dependent language behavior. With ASP tags removed, short open tags should be the last.
  * ASP tags [[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14694116/how-to-disable-asp-style-php-tags-within-a-specific-file|clash with underscore.js templates]] and it's not possible to disable asp tags using ''ini_set()''.
  * Supporting different tags allows very weird mixing like ''%%<script language=php> echo "foo" %>%%''

===== Porting tool =====

To simplify porting of legacy code using the alternative tags, a [[https://gist.github.com/nikic/74769d74dad8b9ef221b|porting script]] is provided. The script takes a directory and will replace ASP and script tags in all ''.php'' files contained in this directory:

<code>
php -d asp_tags=1 portAlternativeTags.php dir/
</code>

===== Vote =====

The vote started on 2014-09-24 and ended on 2014-10-01. The required 2/3 majority has been reached, as such this RFC is accepted.

<doodle title="Remove alternative PHP tags in PHP 7?" auth="nikic" voteType="single" closed="true">
   * Yes
   * No
</doodle>