Question

How do I make this into a function? I’m doing the same thing twice…

I tried to make the code as concise (given my newbie skills) as possible. If there’s a better way to check if file exists with less code, or do anything with less code, please suggest it.

As you can see, I need to
1) check the file exists
2) make it night, if it’s night
3) check if that exists
4) get the key – for some reason, the incoming text will NOT MATCH string key 100%, so that’s why I’m using string match instead of =

$today_desc_stripped = trim($today_desc);
foreach ( $icon as $k => $v ) {
similar_text($today_desc_stripped, $k, $p);
if ( $p > 90) {
    $today_desc = $k;
    break;
}   
}
$today_icon = $icon[$today_desc];
// if it's past 6 pm, set temp icon to night icon
if ( file_exists("scripts/weather_icons/".$today_icon.".png") ) { // make sure file exists
if ( $time >= 6 ) {
    $temp = $today_icon."_night";
    if ( file_exists($temp) ) {
        $today_icon = $temp;
    }
}
} else {
//if file doesn't exist
$today_icon = "dunno";
mail($to,$subject,$message."195: Icon array on Line 20 is missing assignment for ".$today_desc_stripped);
}

$fourday_desc_stripped = trim($fourday_desc);
foreach ( $icon as $k => $v ) {
similar_text($fourday_desc_stripped, $k, $p);
if ( $p > 90) {
    $fourday_desc = $k;
    break;
}   
}
$fourday_icon = $icon[$fourday_desc];
// if it's past 6 pm, set temp icon to night icon
if ( file_exists("scripts/weather_icons/".$fourday_icon.".png") ) { // make sure file exists
if ( $time >= 6 ) {
    $temp = $fourday_icon."_night";
    if ( file_exists($temp) ) {
        $fourday_icon = $temp;
    }
}
} else {
//if file doesn't exist
$fourday_icon = "dunno";
mail($to,$subject,$message."218: Icon array on Line 20 is missing assignment for ".$fourday_desc_stripped);
}

Answer 1

Here’s the steps that you need to follow:

• Identify the goal
• Identify the differences
• Identify supporting data

You can either put your error checking inside the function or outside. As there were several variables that were set up in our current scope simply for your error email, I left it outside of the function:

$today_icon = getIcon($icon, $today_desc);
if (!$today_icon) {
    mail($to,$subject,$message."195: Icon array on Line 20 is missing assignment for ".$today_desc);
}

$fourday_icon = getIcon($icon, $fourday_desc);
if (!$fourday_icon) {
    mail($to,$subject,$message."195: Icon array on Line 20 is missing assignment for ".$fourday_desc);
}

And for the function itself:

function getIcon($icons, $icon_name_request) {
    $icon_name = trim($icon_name_request);

    foreach ( $icons as $k => $v ) {
        similar_text($icon_name, $k, $p);
        if ( $p > 90) {
            $icon_name = $k;
            break;
        }   
    }

    $icon_filebase = null;

    // if it's past 6 pm, set temp icon to night icon
    if ( !empty($icons[$icon_name]) && 
        file_exists("scripts/weather_icons/". $icons[$icon_name] .".png") ) {
                 // make sure file exists

        $icon_filebase = $icons[$icon_name];

        if ( $time >= 6 ) {
            $temp = $icon_filebase."_night";
            if ( file_exists($temp) ) {
                $icon_filebase = $temp;
            }
        }
    }
    return $icon_filebase;
}