PHP open/close tags - Cached views optimization

[Yousha]

I was looking at my cached views/blade files and I found this:

<?php $__env->startSection('content'); ?>
<?php $__errorArgs = ['password'];
$__bag = $errors->getBag($__errorArgs[1] ?? 'default');
if ($__bag->has($__errorArgs[0])) :
if (isset($message)) { $__messageOriginal = $message; }
$message = $__bag->first($__errorArgs[0]); ?>
                    <?php echo $__env->make('_common._error_message', \Illuminate\Support\Arr::except(get_defined_vars(), ['__data', '__path']))->render(); ?>
                <?php unset($message);
if (isset($__messageOriginal)) { $message = $__messageOriginal; }
endif;
unset($__errorArgs, $__bag); ?>
<?php $__env->stopSection(); ?>

How many times are PHP open/close tags used consecutively in a few lines of code within a single file?
There are about 8 PHP open/close tags... Now, imagine this scenario across numerous view files!

As everyone knows, excessive use of PHP open/close tags throughout a file can lead to increased parsing overhead(search, parse, lexing, compile).
The best practice is to minimize the number of PHP open/close tag occurrences within a script to maintain code readability and optimize performance.

So I think we can optimize this, by simply removing/replacing twin close->open tags in final result before caching it.

str_replace('?><?php', '', $compiledViewResult)

[ahinkle]

There is no real problem here. You shouldn't be referring to how clean and readable your cached views are. It would be similar comparing to minified css vs unminified.

Adding this change would break applications and just wouldn't make sense.

[Yousha]

There is no real problem here. You shouldn't be referring to how clean and readable your cached views are. It would be similar comparing to minified css vs unminified.

Adding this change would break applications and just wouldn't make sense.

Readability? no one is talking about readability... read it carefully.
I'm talking about performance optimization.

And this will NEVER break current applications, because it's just a simple removal of useless open/close tags.

[ahinkle]

No need to be rude. It's in your post.

within a script to maintain code readability and optimize performance.

[Yousha]

I'm not. The post's title and it's content said that already for 4 times:

Title: Cached views optimization

can lead to increased parsing overhead

maintain code readability and optimize performance.

I think we can optimize this

[rojtjo]

Have you actually benchmarked this?

[Yousha]

Yes I did, here are the results:

With unnecessary tags: 1.3458709430695 S
Without tags: 1.2980091190338 S

// Simulate compiled view content with vs. without tag switching.

$withTags = str_repeat('Some HTML <?php $var = 1; $var = $var + 2325; ?><?php $cond = 1; if ($cond): ?>test<?php endif; ?>', 10000);
$withoutTags = str_replace('?><?php', '', $withTags);

file_put_contents(__DIR__.'/with_tags.php', $withTags);
file_put_contents(__DIR__.'/without_tags.php', $withoutTags);

// Benchmark including both files
function benchmark($file) {
    $start = microtime(true);
    include $file;
    $end = microtime(true);
    return $end - $start;
}

echo "With tags: " . benchmark('with_tags.php') . " S\n";
echo "Without tags: " . benchmark('without_tags.php') . " S\n";`

This gives us roughly a 5% performance improvement in rendering time just by removing redundant PHP open/close tags in compiled views.

While the gain per view might seem small, it can add up significantly on high-traffic applications or when rendering many partials/views in loops.

My suggestion is based on general PHP parsing behavior and best practices around minimizing unnecessary open/close tags () to reduce parsing overhead and keep generated code cleaner.