How to echo CODE in PHP without the code running?

Question

I want to echo a small script in php. But when i echo the script instead of it just showing the script thats in the echo it actually performs it. I know you can use ' ' to make the whole string literal but i also have variables in the echo string of which the values i want to be shown. ' ' dosnt show the variables. values. Does anyone know a script that shows the code without it performing but still have variables in the string which show their values.

Basically its for a news site, people select the script from my site, put it on theirs and news events are shown on their site.

Answer 1

Many sites do this by putting the code as the default information within a textarea tag. This also allows you to limit the actual size of the box on the page so that long code does not mess with your look and feel. The textbox will be scrollable allowing full viewing and copying.

Answer 2

So you want a script like and show it on the screen??? with out actually returning the word hello on the screen as html?

If it is, there are two ways. One is to use the proper syntax of < and > which are (WITHOUT SPACES):
& lt ;
& gt ;

so the above php code is (again, & gt ; and & lt ; wihtout spaces):
& lt ;?php echo "Hello"; ?& gt ;

also, a hint on the & gt; look at this page source code, and you see what I mean!

or you can use something called pre tags
so you have

Answer 3

You could also use the function highlight_file($fileToShow) to view the source code. Just make sure you don't echo any sensitive files.

Answer 4

echo('This will concatenate the values of the variables to the echo string' . $varname . 'The periods are used to concatenate (add) to a string in PHP!');

Answer 5

If you create a file, and based on mime type, name it phps, and put your snippet in there, then you should be able to have them click it and download it.... otherwise, just end the php statement and type the code. this is the code sample

Answer 6

Use highlight_file() instead of echo:

http://www.php.net/highlight_file

__________