PHP Manual . ... Control Structures . ... PHP offers an alternative syntax for some of its control structures; namely, if , while , for , foreach , and switch . In each case, the basic form of the alternate syntax is to change the opening brace to a colon (:) and the closing brace to endif; , endwhile; , endfor; , endforeach; , or endswitch; , respectively. <?php if ($a == 5): ?> A is equal to 5 <?php endif; ?> ... The alternative syntax applies to else and elseif as well. ... elseif . ...