Question

Hey is this the correct way to do concatenation? it does not seem to want to work for me!.

        $driver1points = 0;
        $driver2points = 0;
        $driver3points = 0;
        $driver4points = 0;

        for($i = 1; $i <= 4; $++){
            if(${"driver".$i} == $driverrace["fastestlap"]) {
                ${"driver". $i ."points"} += $driver_points_system["fastestlap"];
                $racepoints += $team_points_system["fastestlap"];
                break;
            }
         }

Answer 1

I agree with what is said in the comments. An array is a much better way to handle this.

<?php
$driver1points = 0;
$driver2points = 0;
$driver3points = 0;
$driver4points = 0;

for($i = 1; $i <= 4; $++) {
    $driver = "driver$i";
    if($$driver == $driverrace["fastestlap"]) {
        ${$driver."points"} += $driver_points_system["fastestlap"];
        $racepoints += $team_points_system["fastestlap"];
        break;
    }
}

Can be translated into:

<?php
$drivers['bill']   = 0;
$drivers['ted']    = 0;
$drivers['cheech'] = 0;
$drivers['chong']  = 0;

foreach ( $drivers as $driver => &$points ) {
    if ( $driver == $race['fastestlap'] ) {
        echo "$driver had the fastest lap!";
        $points     += $driver_points_system['fastestlap'];
        $racepoints += $team_points_system['fastestlap'];
        break;
    }
}

You can obviously do this as a numerative array and replace all of the $drivers[$driverName] assignments to just $drivers[]. I used an associative array to demonstrate that arrays are not only more efficient for this application, they can also be much easier to work with.

I passed the value argument of the foreach by reference, the “&” prefix (similar to a pointer, variable stores the memory address as opposed to the value); this allows you to directly manipulate the value in your logic as opposed to being given a copy of the value and needing to reassign with something similar to a $drivers[$driver] = $points;