Question

I have multiple input tag submitted from previous page, say step1.php like this :

<input type="hidden" name="block01" value="001"/>
<input type="hidden" name="block02" value="012"/>
<input type="hidden" name="block03" value="002"/>
<input type="hidden" name="block04" value="005"/>
<input type="hidden" name="block05" value="008"/>
<input type="hidden" name="block06" value="015"/>

now I want to process those inputs in the step2.php and I have 2 options to do it, either using Array or Loop.

If I’m using array, those inputs will be appended like this :

<?php
$stack = array(""); //empty array declared

// I assume I have some codes here to 'catch' those inputs and put it as array_push
array_push($stack, "001", "012", "002", "005", "008", "015");
print_r($stack);
?>

compare to array, I have this LOOP option too :

<?php
$i = 1;
$x = 'block0'.$i;
$webBlock = $_POST[$x];

while (!empty($webBlock)){
    $x = 'block0'.$i;
    $webBlock = $_POST[$x];
    echo $webBlock . "<br />";  
    $i++;
}

?>

both are solutions of my problem on step2.php. I just need your opinion which is more less memory / cpu consuming? that’s all…

thanks!

Answer 1

In first case, you are using array_push() and print_r(). The first function uses a loop to push arguments passed onto a stack. The second function that is print_r() also uses a loop to print all the values of the array. So, basically you are running loop twice to do the task.

Where as in second case, you have written a code to handle both things at once. So, this method just needs to loop once. Moreover, looking into the working of print_r() and echo, if you run echo X times and use print_r() to print X values, the echo is bit faster than print_r. Read php documentation for more info about all these function.

So, the second way is better.