goto

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

What's the worse thing that could happen if you use goto (xkcd URL)? » 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

<?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