Replace <?php echo with <?=

[AD7six]

Adopt this convenience since 5.4 makes it possible on all supported installs.

Should not be merged before #2588 (at which point this will need regenerating).

[ADmad]

👍

[dereuromark]

👎 I like <?php echo to keep things consistent across all files.

[renan]

👍

[lorenzo]

I think the less reasons we have to put "<?php" the better. We should identify the common cases where we use control structures and minimize them

[lorenzo]

👍

[markstory]

I like this as well. Less typing is nice.

[AD7six]

#2588 Is so much merge fun now.. =D

[markstory]

Such conflicts.

[jippi]

👍

[ionas]

Related/Questions:
a.) Is there a reason to keep the leading and tailing white spaces:
<?= $this->Form->input(); ?>
vs:
<?=$this->Form->input();?>

b.) As of now there seems to be an inconsistency for the closing semi-colon
<?= $this->Form->input(); ?>
vs:
<?= $this->Form->input() ?>

I suggest to keep things as dense as possible cause PHP tends to be verbose anyway:
<?=$this->Form->input()?>
over:
<?=$this->Form->input(); ?>

As a related question: Has it been discussed when to use <?php if($statement):?><?php endif?> over <?php if ($statement) { ?><?php } ?> for views, layouts and bake results?
The same question applies to <?php foreach($collection):?><?php endforeach?> vs <?php foreach ($collection) { ?><? } ?>

[dereuromark]

It would be <?php if ($statement): ?><?php endif ?> (note the space after if and :).
In general I like the space as it makes it a little bit easier to read.

So I'd go for <?= $this->Form->input(); ?>

[lorenzo]

@ionas <?php if ($statement) :?> has been out standard for quite a while. Also having the ; with a space is part of the PHP language. Cannot remember what it does., though :P

I think it trims new lines when outputting, or adds the newline

[ionas]

So there is an agreement for the white spaces (to keep them in) for both short echos and alternative syntax for control structures.

Currently (also in this commit) though there is still a mix of adding the last tailing ; and omitting it.

Examples:
<?= $admin ?>index method
$this->set('<?= $pluralName ?>', $this->paginate());
VS:
if (!$this-><?php echo $currentModelName; ?>->exists($id)) {
if (!$this-><?= $currentModelName; ?>->exists($id)) {

I'd purpose to omit the last tailing semicolon within layouts, views and bake results.

@lorenzo
Omitting that semicolon makes no difference AFAIK in terms of new lines. Omitting a space after ?> removes the carriage return if the new line starts with <?php or <? again, AFAIK.

Related: When to use Alternate Controle Syntax?
I'd not had replaced <?php echo from bake files themselves only from the baked results to keep things different and easier to read and had not used alternative syntax for control structures anywhere but in layouts, views and bake results, again to keep things easier to read/differentiate. E.g. bake files use <?php echo and standard control structures while the layouts, views and bake results use <?=, endif, endwhile, endfor, endforeach and endswitch.