Question

I have several arrays that are created in a PHP function. I want to return all of those arrays in the return value when the function returns. However, since I can only return one array, I create an array of arrays, like so:

$return_value = array($a_config_lines, $port_values, $proto_values, $dev_values, $ca_values, $key_values, $crt_values, $key_values, $group_values, $user_values, $dh_values, $server_values, $ifconfig_pool_values, $keepalive_values, $comp_values, $verb_values, $status_values, $management_values, $a_extra_config_settings);
return $return_value;

$return_value is an array, that contains all of the other arrays, like $comp_values, $verb_values, etc.

When I return from the function, I want to immediately REVERSE what I just did. So I want to take $return_value, and split it up into the old individual arrays, but now they keys for those arrays are 0,1,2, etc… is there an easy way to do this?

Or will I have to manually set all of the keys before I return the array?

Thanks!

Answer 1

If the array you return is associative, you can use extract() to pull all the component arrays back into global scope when you return it:

// Define your array as an associative array, keys named the same as the component variables
return = array(
  'a_config_lines' => $a_config_lines, 
  'port_values' => $port_values, 
  'proto_values' => $proto_values, 
  // etc...
);

Upon calling your function:

// extract() the returned array, to dump all the vars back into global scope
$return = your_function();
extract($return);
// All arrays are now at global scope
var_dump($port_values);
var_dump($a_config_lines);

However, there’s little value to extracting them back into global scope, when you can just access them tidily from the array. This saves you from polluting the global scope with a bunch of new variables.

// Better! Just use the array.
$return = your_function();
var_dump($return['port_values']);