What is the difference between <% %> and <%=%>?

Question

What is the difference between <% %> and <%= %> in ASP.NET MVC? And when to use which?

Answer 1

See also this question. MVC hasn't changed how these bee-stings work, just how often they're used.

Basically:

• <% - execute code
• <%@ - page directive
• <%$ - resource access
• <%= - explicit output to page
• <%# - data binding
• <%-- - server side comment block

Also new in ASP.Net 4:

• <%: - writes out to the page, but with HTML encoded