PHP Goto



(PHP 5 >= 5.3.0)
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 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
<?phpgoto a;
echo 
'Foo';
 
a:
echo 
'Bar';?>
The above example will output:
Bar
Example #2 goto loop example
<?phpfor($i=0,$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
<?phpgoto 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
Note:
The goto operator is available as of PHP 5.3.