Question

lib.php:

<?php

function get_time() {
    loop = true;
    while (loop) {
        echo date("F j, Y, g:i a");
    }
}

?>

index.php contains this:

<?php
    include("lib.php");
?>

and this somewhere further down:

<?php
    get_time();
?>

However, I don’t see anything.

So I see two potential problems here. Either I need to declare the include() at the same time as I declare the function. Or PHP is unable to display continuous data (like in the case of this while loop) on a webpage without refreshing.

If it’s the former, is there a way to declare the include() globally for my whole page? If it’s the latter, how can I get it to show the contents of a continuous loop on my page? Will I have to use another language? Thanks

Answer 1

This piece of code will loop infinitely:

function get_time() {
    loop = true;
    while (loop) {
        echo date("F j, Y, g:i a");
    }
}

get_time();

So the fact that you do not see anything is probably because of this.

Also, you are correct – to see continuously updated data like this, you either need to be refreshing the page, or update the content through AJAX calls.