What is short open tag in php

<?= is not equal with <?php.

<?= is the short open tag for <?php echo

<? is the short open Tag for <?php

You can use short open tags by activate short_open_tag in the php.ini.

Method 01
Go to php.ini and set short_open_tag = On

and then finally restart your server

Method 02

You should be able to change it in your .htaccess file if it wasn’t locked down

<IfModule mod_php5.c>
php_value short_open_tag 1
</IfModule>