[php] if block inside echo statement?

I suspect it's not allowable because I am getting "Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_IF in..." error. But I couldn't find a way to accomplish my goal. Here's my code:

<?php 

  $countries = $myaddress->get_countries();

  foreach($countries as $value){
    echo '<option value="'.$value.'"'.if($value=='United States') echo 'selected="selected"';.'>'.$value.'</option>';
  }
  ?>

What it does is it displays a list of countries in a select element and sets United States as the default. I doesn't work sadly...

In sake of readability it should be something like

<?php 
  $countries = $myaddress->get_countries();
  foreach($countries as $value) {
    $selected ='';
    if($value=='United States') $selected ='selected="selected"'; 
    echo '<option value="'.$value.'"'.$selected.'>'.$value.'</option>';
  }
?>

desire to stuff EVERYTHING in a single line is a decease, man. Write distinctly.

But there is another way, a better one. There is no need to use echo at all. Learn to use templates. Prepare your data first, and display it only then ready.

Business logic part:

$countries = $myaddress->get_countries();
$selected_country = 1;    

Template part:

<? foreach($countries as $row): ?>
<option value="<?=$row['id']?>"<? if ($row['id']==$current_country):> "selected"><? endif ?>
  <?=$row['name']?>
</option>
<? endforeach ?>

Use a ternary operator:

echo '<option value="'.$value.'"'.($value=='United States' ? 'selected="selected"' : '').'>'.$value.'</option>';

And while you're at it, you could use printf to make your code more readable/manageable:

printf('<option value="%s" %s>%s</option>',
    $value,
    $value == 'United States' ? 'selected="selected"' : ''
    $value);

You can always use the ( <condition> ? <value if true> : <value if false> ) syntax (it's called the ternary operator - thanks to Mark for remining me :) ).

If <condition> is true, the statement would be evaluated as <value if true>. If not, it would be evaluated as <value if false>

For instance:

$fourteen = 14;
$twelve = 12;
echo "Fourteen is ".($fourteen > $twelve ? "more than" : "not more than")." twelve";

This is the same as:

$fourteen = 14;
$twelve = 12;
if($fourteen > 12) {
  echo "Fourteen is more than twelve";
}else{
  echo "Fourteen is not more than twelve";
}