Here is the quote for those who did not click through
+ Note: The closing tag of a PHP block at the end of a file is optional, and in some cases + not using it is helpful when using output buffering and include() or require().
Can someone explain how it's helpful with output buffering and include()? Since with output buffering headers aren't sent until later anyway, it should make extra whitespace irrelevant, and therefore negate the need to leave off the ?> in order to permit sloppy whitespacing.
It is probably badly worded. It is generally helpful if you do - include(), require() *without* output buffering - anything *with* output buffering, not generating XML/SGML output Note that although HTML and XML is permissive on the whitespace you output, if you do generate some other format (ie. csv file, image, swf file) with output buffering, and store the results elsewhere, additional whitespace in unintentional places can be a big pain. It is actually irrelevant if you use output buffering or not. Goba