Question

In some code I’m working on I have noticed that several variables are being accessed from outside of foreach loops.

This is seen in codeigniter view files of this particular app.

For example, a view file:

<?php
foreach ($items as $row):
endforeach;

// HTML / PHP code...

 <td>
     <?php echo form_checkbox('option_1','1', FALSE); ?>
     <?php echo form_hidden('weight_unit', $row->weight_unit); ?>
 </td>
// etc...

This works (ie, no errors) but I wonder if this would be considered a bad practice and if so, why? (scope, etc)

Does anyone have an opinion on this and should variables only be called inside their corresponding loops?

Another issue I’ve noticed is if a variable is required in several parts of a view file: should I refactor to have multiple loops or should there be a single foreach / endforeach and the begin / end of the file.

Any suggestions are much appreciated. Thanks.

Answer 1

The only reason I could think of doing that is to seek to the end of the array so you can store its last member in a variable.

You can do this clearer with end().

$row = end($items);