最佳实践：使用PHP中的长多行字符串？

Question

Note: I'm sorry if this is an extremely simple question but I'm somewhat obsessive compulsive over the formatting of my code.

I have a class that has a function that returns a string that will make up the body text of an email. I want this text formatted so it looks right in the email, but also so it doesn't make my code look funky. Here's what I mean:

class Something
{
    public function getEmailText($vars)
    {
        $text = 'Hello ' . $vars->name . ",

The second line starts two lines below.

I also don't want any spaces before the new line, so it's butted up against the left side of the screen.";
        return $text;
    }
}

but it could also be written as:

public function getEmailText($vars)
{
    $text = "Hello {$vars->name},
The second line starts two lines below.
I also don't want any spaces before the new line, so it's butted up against the left side of the screen.";
    return $text;
}

but what's the deal with new lines and carriage returns? What's the difference? Is the equivalent of or ? Which should I use when I'm creating a line gap between lines?

Then there's the option of output buffering and heredoc syntax.

How do you deal with using long multiline strings in your objects?

Answer 1

You should use HEREDOC or NOWDOC.

$var = "some text";
$text = <<<EOT
  Place your text between the EOT. It's
  the delimiter that ends the text
  of your multiline string.
  $var
EOT;

The difference between Heredoc and Nowdoc is that PHP code embedded in a heredoc gets executed, while PHP code in Nowdoc will be printed out as is.

$var = "foo";
$text = <<<'EOT'
  My $var
EOT;

In this case $text will have the value My $var.

Note: before the closing EOT; there should be no spaces or tabs. otherwise you will get an error