Why is the order of PHP code ignored in WordPress?

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I am new to PHP, and I wanted to create a code where the thumbnail of the newest post and the post title get displayed. Both the title and the image should be inside a <a href="#">, so that people can view the article by clicking on the image. But when I run the following PHP code the code gets printed out like this:

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<img width="462" height="260" src="http://vocaloid.de/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/1920x1080_PC_a.jpg" class="attachment-735x260 wp-post-image" alt="1920x1080_PC_a"><a href="http://vocaloid.de/news/test-nr-2/"><h2>HATSUNE MIKU: PROJECT DIVA F EXTEND ANGEKÜNDG</h2></a>

Here is the original code I used: 

<?php
    $args = array('numberposts' => '1' );
    $recent_posts = wp_get_recent_posts( $args );

    foreach( $recent_posts as $recent ){
        echo '<a href="' . get_permalink($recent["ID"]) . '">' . the_post_thumbnail($recent['ID'], array(735,260)); the_title( '<h2>', '</h2>' ); '</a>';
    }
?>
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2 comments

  1. Try this:

    $args = array('numberposts' => '1' );
$recent_posts = wp_get_recent_posts( $args );

foreach( $recent_posts as $recent ){
    echo '<a href="' . get_permalink($recent["ID"]) . '">';
    the_post_thumbnail($recent['ID'], array(735,260));
    echo the_title( '<h2>', '</h2>' ).'</a>';
}

    Let me know the output.

  2. Rohil_PHPBeginner’s answer is correct, however I don’t think it explains why it occurred.

    Where you use the_post_thumbnail(), it echos the result and does not return it. It is for this reason it appears in the wrong place when you try to concatenate it into a string.

    If you would like to get the post thumbnail you can use get_the_post_thumbnail()

    Thus using get_the_post_thumbnail() you snippet would end up looking like:

    <?php
    $args = array('numberposts' => '1' );
    $recent_posts = wp_get_recent_posts( $args );

    foreach( $recent_posts as $recent ){
        echo '<a href="' . get_permalink($recent["ID"]) . '">'
             . get_the_post_thumbnail($recent['ID'], array(735,260))
             . the_title( '<h2>', '</h2>' )
             . '</a>';
    }
?>

    I hope this gives further clarity.