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I am learning php and Ajax, but I see a code where <? is used.
<?php while($row=mysql_fetch_array($result)) { ?>
<option value=<?=$row['id']?>><?=$row['statename']?></option>
Please could you help me to understand why is
You can use
<?=$row['statement'] ?>
as a convenient shorthand to
<?php echo $row['statement'] ?>
this can improve readability.
Read the manual.
It will explain everything about tags.
http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.basic-syntax.phpmode.php