Control Structures
PHP Manual

goto

(PHP 5 >= 5.3.0, PHP 7)

What's the worse thing that could happen if you use goto?
Image courtesy of ยป xkcd

The goto operator can be used to jump to another section in the program. The target point is specified by a label followed by a colon, and the instruction is given as goto followed by the desired target label. This is not a full unrestricted goto. The target label must be within the same file and context, meaning that you cannot jump out of a function or method, nor can you jump into one. You also cannot jump into any sort of loop or switch structure. You may jump out of these, and a common use is to use a goto in place of a multi-level break.

Example #1 goto example

<?php
goto a;
echo 
'Foo';
 
a:
echo 
'Bar';
?>

The above example will output:

Bar

Example #2 goto loop example

<?php
for($i=0,$j=50$i<100$i++) {
  while(
$j--) {
    if(
$j==17) goto end
  }  
}
echo 
"i = $i";
end:
echo 
'j hit 17';
?>

The above example will output:

j hit 17

Example #3 This will not work

<?php
goto loop;
for(
$i=0,$j=50$i<100$i++) {
  while(
$j--) {
    
loop:
  }
}
echo 
"$i = $i";
?>

The above example will output:

Fatal error: 'goto' into loop or switch statement is disallowed in
script on line 2

Note:

The goto operator is available as of PHP 5.3.


Control Structures
PHP Manual