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goto

(PHP 5 >= 5.3.0, PHP 7, PHP 8)

What's the worse thing that could happen if you use goto?

Image courtesy of » xkcd

The goto operator can be used to jump to another section in the program. The target point is specified by a case-sensitive label followed by a colon, and the instruction is given as goto followed by the desired target label. This is not a full unrestricted goto. The target label must be within the same file and context, meaning that you cannot jump out of a function or method, nor can you jump into one. You also cannot jump into any sort of loop or switch structure. You may jump out of these, and a common use is to use a goto in place of a multi-level break.

Example #1 goto example

<?php

goto a;
echo
'Foo';

a:
echo
'Bar';

?>

The above example will output:

Bar

Example #2 goto loop example

<?php

for ($i = 0, $j = 50; $i < 100; $i++) {
while (
$j--) {
if (
$j == 17) {
goto
end;
}
}
}
echo
"i = $i";
end:
echo
'j hit 17';

?>

The above example will output:

j hit 17

Example #3 This will not work

<?php

goto loop;
for (
$i = 0, $j = 50; $i < 100; $i++) {
while (
$j--) {
loop:
}
}
echo
"$i = $i";

?>

The above example will output:

Fatal error: 'goto' into loop or switch statement is disallowed in
script on line 2

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User Contributed Notes 4 notes

up
48
Lollo
3 years ago
You should mention the label can't be a variable
up
22
devbyjesus at example dot com
2 years ago
the problem of goto is that it is a good feature but in a large codebase it reduces the readability of the code . that's all . i try to not use it to think about the person who is going to read after me .
up
6
BPI
1 year ago
You can jump inside the same switch. This can be usefull to jump to default
<?php
$x
=3;
switch(
$x){
case
0:
case
3:
print(
$x);
if(
$x)
goto
def;
case
5:
$x=6;
default:
def:
print(
$x);
}
?>
up
3
Anonymous
6 months ago
Example to exit loops:

for ($i = 0; $i < 10; $i++) {
for ($j = 0; $j < 10; $j++) {
if ($condition) {
goto exit;
}
}
}
exit:
echo "Out of the loop.";
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