What are the potential drawbacks of creating custom template engines with unique syntax in PHP, as opposed to utilizing established solutions like XSLT or Smarty?

Creating custom template engines with unique syntax in PHP can lead to maintenance issues, as developers may need to learn and understand the custom syntax. Additionally, it can make it harder to find support or documentation compared to established solutions like XSLT or Smarty. Using established solutions can provide a more standardized and widely understood approach to templating in PHP.

// Example of using Smarty template engine in PHP
require_once('libs/Smarty.class.php');

$smarty = new Smarty;

$smarty->template_dir = '/path/to/templates';
$smarty->compile_dir = '/path/to/templates_c';

$smarty->assign('name', 'John Doe');
$smarty->display('index.tpl');