How do I created an HTML formatted string in PHP?

Question

I have a function that generates an HTML table based on an SQL query. How can I store this whole table in a formatted string? Here is the code for the table. As a person on this forum suggested earlier, I would like to send this string as the body of an email. I think I have a good idea on how to do this, so help on the formatted string would be great!

    function tableGen($x) {
$term=$x;
$sql = mysql_query("select * from student_info where ID like '$term'");
echo "<h1>STUDENT DATA for ID: $term</h1>";
echo "<table>";
echo "<tr>
<th>ID</th>
<th>Project</th>
<th>Starter Project</th>
<th>Course</th>
<th>KDs Completed in your Course</th>
<th>Projects Completed</th>
<th>Project 1</th>
<th>P1KD1</th>
<th>P1KD2</th>
<th>P1KD3</th>
<th>P1KD4</th>
<th>P1KD5</th>
<th>Project 2</th>
<th>P2KD1</th>
<th>P2KD2</th>
<th>P2KD3</th>
<th>P2KD4</th>
<th>P2KD5</th>
<th>Project 3</th>
<th>P3KD1</th>
<th>P3KD2</th>
<th>P3KD3</th>
<th>P3KD4</th>
<th>P3KD5</th>
<th>Project 4</th>
<th>P4KD1</th>
<th>P4KD2</th>
<th>P4KD3</th>
<th>P4KD4</th>
<th>P4KD5</th>
</tr>";

while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($sql))
{
echo "<tr><td>";
echo $row['ID'];
echo "</td><td>";
echo $row['Project'];
echo "</td><td>";
echo $row['Starter Project'];
echo "</td><td>";
echo $row['Course'];
echo "</td><td>";
echo $row['KDs completed in your course'];
echo "</td><td>";
echo $row['Projects Completed'];
echo "</td><td>";
echo $row['Project 1'];
echo "</td><td>";
echo $row['P 1 KD 1'];
echo "</td><td>";
echo $row['P 1 KD 2'];
echo "</td><td>";
echo $row['P 1 KD 3'];
echo "</td><td>";
echo $row['P 1 KD 4'];
echo "</td><td>";
echo $row['P 1 KD 5'];
echo "</td><td>";
echo $row['Project 2'];
echo "</td><td>";
echo $row['P 2 KD 1'];
echo "</td><td>";
echo $row['P 2 KD 2'];
echo "</td><td>";
echo $row['P 2 KD 3'];
echo "</td><td>";
echo $row['P 2 KD 4'];
echo "</td><td>";
echo $row['P 2 KD 5'];
echo "</td><td>";
echo $row['Project 3'];
echo "</td><td>";
echo $row['P 3 KD 1'];
echo "</td><td>";
echo $row['P 3 KD 2'];
echo "</td><td>";
echo $row['P 3 KD 3'];
echo "</td><td>";
echo $row['P 3 KD 4'];
echo "</td><td>";
echo $row['P 3 KD 5'];
echo "</td><td>";
echo $row['Project 4'];
echo "</td><td>";
echo $row['P 4 KD 1'];
echo "</td><td>";
echo $row['P 4 KD 2'];
echo "</td><td>";
echo $row['P 4 KD 3'];
echo "</td><td>";
echo $row['P 4 KD 4'];
echo "</td><td>";
echo $row['P 4 KD 5'];
echo "</td></tr>";
}

echo "</table>";
}

Answer 1

You should use Heredoc. Here's an example:

$text = <<<END
//insert whatever text needs to be inserted
<table></table>
END;

Now $text will have everything stored as text properly formatted too and you can simply echo it if you choose.

Answer 2

Instead of 'echo'ing, append your strings to a variable, and then echo that variable. You can then reuse that variable to send off an email or whatever else.

function tableGen($x) {
$term=$x;
$sql = mysql_query("select * from student_info where ID like '$term'");
$output = "";
$output .=  "<h1>STUDENT DATA for ID: $term</h1>";
$output .=  "<table>";
$output .=  "<tr>
<th>ID</th>
<th>Project</th>
<th>Starter Project</th>
<th>Course</th>
<th>KDs Completed in your Course</th>
<th>Projects Completed</th>
<th>Project 1</th>
<th>P1KD1</th>
<th>P1KD2</th>
<th>P1KD3</th>
<th>P1KD4</th>
<th>P1KD5</th>
<th>Project 2</th>
<th>P2KD1</th>
<th>P2KD2</th>
<th>P2KD3</th>
<th>P2KD4</th>
<th>P2KD5</th>
<th>Project 3</th>
<th>P3KD1</th>
<th>P3KD2</th>
<th>P3KD3</th>
<th>P3KD4</th>
<th>P3KD5</th>
<th>Project 4</th>
<th>P4KD1</th>
<th>P4KD2</th>
<th>P4KD3</th>
<th>P4KD4</th>
<th>P4KD5</th>
</tr>";

while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($sql))
{
$output .=  "<tr><td>";
$output .=  $row['ID'];
$output .=  "</td><td>";
$output .=  $row['Project'];
$output .=  "</td><td>";
$output .=  $row['Starter Project'];
$output .=  "</td><td>";
$output .=  $row['Course'];
$output .=  "</td><td>";
$output .=  $row['KDs completed in your course'];
$output .=  "</td><td>";
$output .=  $row['Projects Completed'];
$output .=  "</td><td>";
$output .=  $row['Project 1'];
$output .=  "</td><td>";
$output .=  $row['P 1 KD 1'];
$output .=  "</td><td>";
$output .=  $row['P 1 KD 2'];
$output .=  "</td><td>";
$output .=  $row['P 1 KD 3'];
$output .=  "</td><td>";
$output .=  $row['P 1 KD 4'];
$output .=  "</td><td>";
$output .=  $row['P 1 KD 5'];
$output .=  "</td><td>";
$output .=  $row['Project 2'];
$output .=  "</td><td>";
$output .=  $row['P 2 KD 1'];
$output .=  "</td><td>";
$output .=  $row['P 2 KD 2'];
$output .=  "</td><td>";
$output .=  $row['P 2 KD 3'];
$output .=  "</td><td>";
$output .=  $row['P 2 KD 4'];
$output .=  "</td><td>";
$output .=  $row['P 2 KD 5'];
$output .=  "</td><td>";
$output .=  $row['Project 3'];
$output .=  "</td><td>";
$output .=  $row['P 3 KD 1'];
$output .=  "</td><td>";
$output .=  $row['P 3 KD 2'];
$output .=  "</td><td>";
$output .=  $row['P 3 KD 3'];
$output .=  "</td><td>";
$output .=  $row['P 3 KD 4'];
$output .=  "</td><td>";
$output .=  $row['P 3 KD 5'];
$output .=  "</td><td>";
$output .=  $row['Project 4'];
$output .=  "</td><td>";
$output .=  $row['P 4 KD 1'];
$output .=  "</td><td>";
$output .=  $row['P 4 KD 2'];
$output .=  "</td><td>";
$output .=  $row['P 4 KD 3'];
$output .=  "</td><td>";
$output .=  $row['P 4 KD 4'];
$output .=  "</td><td>";
$output .=  $row['P 4 KD 5'];
$output .=  "</td></tr>";
}

$output .=  "</table>";
echo $output;
}