Question

I have a function that receives a an array from the $_POST function then uses the indexes and values contained in the indexes to create an SQL. My problem is that I can get the function to echo the SQL correctly but I’m unable to create a variable. My function is below

 function createcontactsArray($sql,Array $contactsArray){
         //array has already been cleaned from sql injections

        //delete null variables and the value of the submit button        
        foreach ($contactsArray as $key => $value) {

            if($value == ""||$value=="continue") {
                unset($contactsArray[$key]);
            }

        }

        echo "INSERT INTO users(";
        //create list of tables to use in the database
        foreach ($contactsArray as $key => $value) {

            if ($value == end($contactsArray))                {
                echo $key;
            } else                {
                echo $key.",";
            }

        }
        echo ') VALUES (';

        //create list of tables to use in the database
        //$newcontactsArray = array_values($contactsArray);
        foreach ($contactsArray as $key => $value) {

            if ($value == end($contactsArray))                {
                echo '"'.$value.'"';
            } else                {
               echo '"'.$value.'"'.",";
            }

        }

        echo ');';

}

If you run this script and pass it an associative array for example $contacts = array("name"=>"Peter griffin","town"=>"Quahogn");it will output the following INSERT INTO users (name,contacts) VALUES ("Peter griffin","Quahog"). However I want the function to create an sql like $sql = INSERT INTO users (name,contacts) VALUES ("Peter griffin","Quahog") so that to output I just say echo $sql; Thanks.

Answer 1

 function createcontactsArray($sql,Array $contactsArray){
         //array has already been cleaned from sql injections

        //delete null variables and the value of the submit button        
        foreach ($contactsArray as $key => $value) {

            if($value == ""||$value=="continue") {
                unset($contactsArray[$key]);
            }

        }

        $sql = "INSERT INTO users(";
        //create list of tables to use in the database
        foreach ($contactsArray as $key => $value) {

            if ($value == end($contactsArray))                {
                $sql .= $key;
            } else                {
                $sql .= $key.",";
            }

        }
        $sql .= ') VALUES (';

        //create list of tables to use in the database
        //$newcontactsArray = array_values($contactsArray);
        foreach ($contactsArray as $key => $value) {

            if ($value == end($contactsArray))                {
                $sql .= '"'.$value.'"';
            } else                {
               $sql .= '"'.$value.'"'.",";
            }

        }

        $sql .= ');';

        return $sql;