Reasoning for alternate PHP syntax for conditional HTML

Question

So, why does this work:

<?php if (condition): ?>
    <!--html code here-->
<?php endif; ?>

But not simply this:

<?php
if (condition) { ?>
    <!--html code here-->
    <?
}

I figured it was just style preference, but I actually can't seem to get it to work the second way. Am I just doing something completely wrong? I can't see the purpose of outputting HTML right in the middle of an if statement if you wanted it to always print.

Answer 1

You need to allow short tag in your php.ini to make <? work

else you have to write <?php } ?>

Answer 2

The second way should work like you described considering you have the closing php tags and < ?php

Answer 3

It does, if you have the right re-opening tag...

<?php
if (condition) { ?>
    <!-- html code -->
<?php
}