Question

Lets say I have this:

function myFunc()
{
    global $distinct_variable;

    die ($distinct_variable);
}

function anotherFunc()
{
    $distinct_variable = 'Hello World';

    myFunc();
}

anotherFunc();

For anotherFunc() to correctly show ‘Hello World’, it must be written like this

{
    global $distinct_variable;

    $distinct_variable = 'Hello World';

    myFunc();
}

Now it will show the message, but why must I global $distinct_variable; in anotherFunc() since it is a global in myFunc() which is within anotherFunc()

Yes, I know that variables inside functions won’t go outside of them, but I was thinking it should have worked…

Could someone explain why isn’t it working?
Thanks.

Thank you for your answers, I get it now 🙂

Answer 1

A global variable is exactly that – it exists in the GLOBAL scope ONLY.

Everything in PHP (except superglobals) exist in only one scope – be that the global scope, or the scope of a function/method. Scope does not cascade – so just because you have a variable in an “outer” function does not make it available to an “inner” function.

Similarly, global fetches the variables defined in the GLOBAL scope only (the top-most scope), not simply “the scope above this one, from which I was called”. This is what you tried to do, but it absolutely will not work. This level of finer-grained control is what function arguments/return values are for.