value="<?=$file_source?>"> it will show the >"> at my browser
but if
value="<?php echo $file_source?>"> it will show correctly in browser.
Is it due to php versioning?
Also I realize some php classes written by others (which I download online), doesn't use <?php ?> , it directly use <? ?>
But when I run it locally at xampp, I need to code it as in order to get the correct output.
<?= and <? are PHP short tags. They don't work because it is not enabled in your PHP config, and it is generally recommended to avoid using them and always use <?php
You need to enable short_open_tag in your PHP configuration. People tend to think this a bad idea, although the short echo sytax is very useful.
This directive also affects the shorthand <?= , which is identical to <? echo . Use of this shortcut requires short_open_tag to be on.
It seems that short_tag_open is disabled and thus any other PHP open tags except <?php are ignored.
PHP has a short_open_tag directive in php.ini which needs to be on for <? ... ?> and <?= ... ?> to work. However, the recommendation is to only use <?php ... ?> in your code.
So, for your code to work you will need to either turn short_open_tag on, or change the code to use <?php ... ?>.