Currently, the WordPress Coding Standard explicitly forbids the use of the PHP short echo tag (<?=) along with the PHP short tag (<?). This post proposes modifying this rule to allow the use of the short echo tag for single statements. Motivation Prior to PHP 5.4, it was possible to disable the PHP short echo…

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WordPress proposes allowing the PHP short echo tag (<?=) in its coding standards. Since PHP 5.4, this tag is always available regardless of configuration settings, making it safe to use. The proposal allows but doesn't mandate its use for single statements in template files, requiring no immediate changes to existing WordPress core code. Projects wanting to maintain the restriction can configure PHPCS accordingly.

Coding Standard Proposal: Allow the use of the PHP short echo tag

How to keep short echo tags forbidden in a given project