help with basic php syntax

Question

I need some help with php syntax. How can I add following line

if ($month == $dbmonth) echo ' selected="selected"';

in the following line, inside the option value

$monthOptions .= "<option value=\"$month\"  >$month</option>\n";

So that it looks like:

<option value="3" selected="selected" > 3 </option> 

(assuming $dbmonth = 3 .)

Thanks for help

Answer 1

echo '<option value="'.$month.'"'
     .($month==$dbmonth?' selected="selected':'')
     .'>'.$month.'</option>

I think is what you're going for (used an in-line condition, (<condition>?<true outcome>:<false outcome>)

And if this is in a loop:

for ($month = 1; $month < 13; $month++)
  echo '<option value="'.$month.'"'
       .($month==$dbmonth?' selected="selected':'')
       .'>'.$month.'</option>

You could also break it out a little more legibly:

for ($month = 1; $month < 13; $month++)
{
  $selected = '';
  if ($month == $dbmonth)
    $selected = ' selected="selected"';
  echo "<option value=\"{$month}\"{$selected}>{$month}</option";
}

Answer 2

You could do something like this.

$monthOptions .= "<option value=\"$month\""
if ($month == $dbmonth) $monthOptions .= ' selected="selected"';
$monthOptions .= ">$month</option>\n";

Answer 3

The other suggestions work but for readability I'd prefer:

$selected = ($month == $dbmonth) ? ' selected="selected"' : '';

$monthOptions .= "<option value=\"$month\" $selected >$month</option>\n";

There's also less spaghetti code, and eventually you can transition to some sort of template system.