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Templating engines in PHP: An overview with best practices
How PHP templating engines improve code structure, security, and development efficiency
PHP has long been one of the most popular languages for server-side web development. Traditionally, PHP itself acted both as the business logic layer and the templating system — embedding HTML directly inside PHP scripts. However, as projects grew in complexity, the need for a cleaner separation of logic and presentation led to the rise of templating engines.
In this article, we’ll explore what templating engines are, why you should use them, some popular examples, and best practices for working with them.
What Is a Templating Engine?
A templating engine helps separate your PHP logic from your HTML view. It allows developers to define how the output should look (HTML) while injecting dynamic data cleanly, usually with a syntax that is more restrictive and safer than raw PHP.
Instead of mixing PHP and HTML directly, templating engines offer a more readable, secure, and maintainable approach to building web pages.
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