[RESOLVED] Easy formatting Q

[RobDog888]

I am building some html code dynamically but would like the source to look nicer then what it is. I believe the \n is supossed to do a line break similar to the <br /> but oin the raw html only and not the ooutputted display on the page.

I have this and its puking \n to the page.

while ($cat = $db->fetch_array($cats))
{
  $mycats .= '\n    <tr>\n'.$cat;
} 

But the "\n" isnt working and pukes to the screen.

[RobDog888]

Bah, I knew it as soon as I posted it I would get it working.

Seems I had to use the double quotes for it to work. Why?

[dclamp]

well double quotes are supposed to be used only. Singles quotes should be used inside double quotes. "my cat 'oreo' is male". etc

Also, variables are only parsed in double quotes:
$name = "oreo";
echo "my cat $name is male";

and formating, i guess if only parsed in double quotes

[RobDog888]

Well thats just plain

Who designed this so called "language"? Its just completely backwards from anything that MS writes.

[penagate]

well double quotes are supposed to be used only.

That's completely incorrect: Single quoted string literals should always be preferred where possible.
Double-quoted literals are less efficient, since they must be parsed for variables and escape sequences (the only character that can be escaped in a single-quoted literal is a single quote).

Its just completely backwards from anything that MS writes.

I don't know how you figure that, since C# has two kinds of string literal as well: regular string literals, which are equivalent to double-quoted literals in PHP, and verbatim string literals, which are equivalent to single-quoted literals.
Including more language features hardly seems 'backwards' to me. Trying to write any non-trivial regular expression using a double-quoted literal in PHP or a non-verbatim literal in C# is horror-inducing, for example.

[dclamp]

gah... i knew i was wrong. I read exactly what you wrote some where else, and forgot about it.

Thanks for clearing that up pena

[RobDog888]

Well in C# at least you have identifier characters you can use to state its a string or such like the "@" and for slashes you just need to double up on them. Allot easier then having to escape everything all the time.

Ok, so double quotes get a second pass of parsing making the "\n" to be taken as a line break vs puked out to the page. Thanks PG.