I'm running on windows 7 with php 5.3.1. some of the examples I see on the internet uses short tags instead of echo.
so why doesn't this work
<td><?=$row['name'];?></td>
but this works?
<td><?php echo $row['name'];?></td>
Try this in you php.ini
short_open_tag=On
Then restart your server
As of PHP 5.4 the shorthand for echo that you are showing is enabled by default. Prior to that it must be enabled in the configuration via the short_open_tag directive.
It is changable PHP_INI_PERDIR meaning that is can be set in the php.ini, server config or in .htaccess
Short tag or short_open_tag for some server is not enabled by default, and it is encourage to use the actual regular tag <?php because of the reason that if you want to do some migration from one server to another and if the other doesn't support it will break everything.
It is because short_open_tag is disabled.
Open your php.ini file and set short_open_tag to 1. Save the file and restart your web server.
You need to enable short tags in your php.ini and restart your server as said by User016.
short_open_tag=On
It's been recommended not to use the short tag "short cut" and instead to use the full <?php and ?> tag combination. With the wide spread use of XML and use of these tags by other languages, the server can become easily confused and end up parsing the wrong code in the wrong context. Also short tags may not be supported on the target server
