goto

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

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