Difference between <?php and <?

Question

I am new to php and would like to know if there are any differences between these server tags :

and

Answer 1

The problem with short open tags is that the following:

will cause problems if you're allowed to use short tags (i.e. and ?>). is less open to misinterpretation.

Whether or not you're allowed to use short tags is defined by the ini directive short_open_tag.