How can short open tags being deactivated impact the functionality of PHP scripts, especially when including external files?

When short open tags are deactivated in PHP, scripts using `<?` will not be parsed correctly, leading to syntax errors or unexpected behavior. To ensure compatibility, it is recommended to use the full `<?php` tag to open PHP code blocks. This can be easily fixed by replacing all instances of `<?` with `<?php` in the PHP files. 

// Before fix
&lt;?php
    include &#039;external_file.php&#039;;
?&gt;

// After fix
&lt;?php
    include &#039;external_file.php&#039;;
?&gt;

Keywords

short open tags PHP scripts external files functionality impact

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