Multiple line comment inside multiple line comment in PHP

<?php
/*
    /* this is a comment */
*/
?>

PHP returns "syntax error"... Is this just a completely wrong way to use multiple line comment?

Sometimes I need to comment out a big block of code for testing, and this block contains hundreds of lines and there are many multiple line comments inside.

What's the best way to comment out this big block? Besides removing it temporarily from the file?

Solution

From the PHP manual:

'C' style comments end at the first */ encountered. Make sure you don't nest 'C' style comments. It is easy to make this mistake if you are trying to comment out a large block of code.
<?php
 /*
    echo 'This is a test'; /* This comment will cause a problem */
 */
?>