# PHP highlight_string() Function

PHP Misc Reference

## Example

Output a string with the PHP syntax highlighted:

<html>
<body>
<?php
highlight_string("Hello world! <?php phpinfo(); ?>");
?>
</body>
</html>

The browser output of the code above will be:

Hello world! <?php phpinfo(); ?>

The HTML output of the code above will be (View Source):

<html>
<body>
<code>
<span style="color: #000000">Hello&nbsp;world!&nbsp;
<span style="color: #0000BB">&lt;?php&nbsp;phpinfo</span>
<span style="color: #007700">();&nbsp;</span>
<span style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;</span>
</span>
</code>
</body>
</html>
Run example »

## Definition and Usage

The highlight_string() function outputs a string with the PHP syntax highlighted. The string is highlighted by using HTML tags.

The colors used for highlighting can be set in the php.ini file or with the ini_set() function.

## Syntax

highlight_string(string,return)

Parameter | Description
--- | ---
string | Required. Specifies the string to highlight
return | Optional. If this parameter is set to TRUE, this function will return the highlighted code as a string, instead of printing it out. Default is FALSE

## Technical Details

Return Value: | Returns TRUE on success, or FALSE on failure
PHP Version: | 4+
Changelog: | The return parameter was added in PHP 4.2.0

PHP Misc Reference

### WEB HOSTING

UK Reseller Hosting

### WEB BUILDING

FREE Website BUILDER Free HTML5 Templates

### W3SCHOOLS EXAMS

HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, jQuery, XML, and ASP Certifications

### SHARE THIS PAGE

### Color Picker

### HTML/CSS

HTML Tutorial HTML5 Tutorial CSS Tutorial CSS3 Tutorial Bootstrap Tutorial

### JavaScript

JavaScript Tutorial jQuery Tutorial jQuery Mobile Tutorial AngularJS Tutorial AJAX Tutorial JSON Tutorial

### Graphics

Canvas Tutorial SVG Tutorial Google Maps Tutorial

### Server Side

SQL Tutorial PHP Tutorial ASP Tutorial ASP.NET Tutorial VBScript Tutorial AppML Tutorial

### Web

Web Building Web Statistics Web Certification

### XML

XML Tutorial DTD Tutorial Schema Tutorial XML DOM Tutorial XPath Tutorial XSLT Tutorial XQuery Tutorial XSL-FO Tutorial RSS Tutorial WSDL Tutorial

### HTML/CSS

HTML Tag Reference HTML Event Reference HTML Color Reference CSS 1,2,3 Reference Bootstrap Reference

### JavaScript

JavaScript Reference HTML DOM Reference jQuery Reference jQuery Mobile Reference Google Maps Reference

### Server Side

PHP Reference SQL Reference ASP Reference VBScript Reference Razor Reference ASP.NET Reference

### XML

XML DOM Reference XSLT Reference XSL-FO Reference XPath Reference XQuery Reference Schema Reference RSS Reference SVG Reference

### HTML Charsets

HTML Character Sets HTML ASCII HTML ANSI HTML Windows-1252 HTML ISO-8859-1 HTML Symbols HTML UTF-8

### HTML/CSS

HTML Examples CSS Examples

### Browser Scripting

JavaScript Examples HTML DOM Examples jQuery Examples jQuery Mobile Examples AngularJS Examples AJAX Examples

### Server Scripting

PHP Examples ASP Examples VBScript Examples Razor Examples .NET Examples

### XML Languages

XML Examples DTD Examples XML DOM Examples XSL Examples XSLT Examples XPath Examples XQuery Examples Schema Examples RSS Examples SVG Examples