note 59663 added to language.basic-syntax

The XML declaration does not need to be handled specially. You should output it via an echo statement, in case your code is ever used on a server that is (poorly) configured to use short open tags. But there's no need to treat the ?> at the end of the string specially. That's because it's in a string. The only thing PHP ever looks for in a string is \ or $ (the latter only in double-quoted strings.) I have never had need for the following, as some have suggested below: <?php $xml=rawurldecode('%3C%3Fxml%20version%3D%221.0%22%3F%3E'); echo($xml); ?> <?php echo '<?xml version="1.0" ?'.'>' ?> <?php echo "<?xml version=\"1.0\"\x3F>" ?> ---- Manual Page -- http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.basic-syntax.php Edit -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=edit+59663 Delete: added to the manual -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=delete+59663&report=yes&reason=added+to+the+manual Delete: bad code -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=delete+59663&report=yes&reason=bad+code Delete: spam -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=delete+59663&report=yes&reason=spam Delete: useless -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=delete+59663&report=yes&reason=useless Delete: non-english -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=delete+59663&report=yes&reason=non-english Delete: already in docs -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=delete+59663&report=yes&reason=already+in+docs Delete: other reasons -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=delete+59663&report=yes Reject -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=reject+59663&report=yes Search -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php