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PHP6: Is short_open_tag removed or deprecated or neither?
I've searched here, php.net, the interwebs, et al.
I can find reports from reliable sources — straight from the developers mouths — that say short tags will be deprecated in PHP6, and that only the asp short tags will be deprecated.
Is there a final say on the matter? Something set in stone? If so, where can I find it?
PHP6 isn't even set in stone (release dates etc) so it's hard to find minor details like this. As ircmaxell pointed out, a lot of what was PHP6 has been rolled back into the 5.3 trunk, and might not even get the 6.0 version (5.4 instead?)
The same rumours floated around for PHP5 before it came out (and they turned out to be pointless) so for now, I'd say don't worry about it.
I wonder your motivation for knowing - if you're building code and worried it might not work, then use the long tags to be safe (for even now, people can turn off short tags/ASP tags in their php.ini so you won't have total compatibility). There's even good reason for not using short tags when working with XML.
if Rasmus' own words is reliable enough source for you, here it is:
we decided not to remove them in PHP 6