How to Enable Short Open Tag (short_open_tag) in PHP

short_open_tag directive determines whether or not PHP will recognize code written between <? — ?> tags. Generally php users used <?php — ?> tags to write php code.

Enable Short Tag in PHP

To enable short_open_tag edit PHP configuration file “php.ini” and set following value to On. Default this value is set to Off.

 short_open_tag = On

After making above changes restart Apache service.

Verify Short Tag in Enabled

To verify that short tag is enabled in your PHP configuration. Create a file check.php with following content.

<?
echo "PHP Short Tag On/Off Testing";
?>

Now execute this script using command line or access file in web browser.

# php check.php

Result if PHP Short Tag is On:

PHP Short Tag On/Off Testing

Result if PHP Short Tag is Off:

<?
echo "PHP Short Tag On/Off Testing";
?>