PHP highlight_file() Function

The PHP highlight_file() function is used to syntax highlighting of a file. It prints out or returns a syntax highlighted version of the code contained in filename using the colors defined in the built-in syntax highlighter for PHP.

Many servers are configured to automatically highlight files with a phps extension. For example - example.phps when viewed will show the syntax highlighted source of the file. To enable this, add the below line to the httpd.conf:

Syntax

highlight_file(filename, return)

Parameters

Return Value

If return is set to true, returns the highlighted code as a string instead of printing it out. Otherwise, it will return true on success, false on failure.

Example: highlight_file() example

In the example below the highlight_file() function is used to syntax highlighting of the file containing the given script.

<?php
//using the highlight_file() function
highlight_file(__FILE__);
?>

The output of the above code will be similar to (word wrapped for readability):

<code><span style="color: #000000">
<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php<br /><br />highlight_file</span>
<span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">__FILE__</span>
<span style="color: #007700">);<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>
</span>
</code>