Question

My problem is as follows. I have a multidimensional array. I declare my array. Then, I run some code that populates my array partially. Then i run a function, which among others is supposed to modify some item in my array from within the function. This is unfortunately not working. So my question is simple. Is it normal? And if yes, how can I overcome this. Thank you very much in advance for your replies. Cheers. Marc.

$list = array([0]=>
                   array(
                         [name]=>'James' 
                         [group]=>''
                         )
             ); 



my_function();
print_r($list); 

function my_function(){
     //some code here
     $list[0]['group'] = 'groupA';
}

Answer 1

you could pass the array to the function by reference

my_function(&$list) {

    $list[0]['group'] = 'groupA';
}

$list = /*...*/
my_function($list);

or simply return the array from the function

my_function($list) {

    $list[0]['group'] = 'groupA';
    return $list;
}

$list = /*...*/
$list = my_function($list);

or use a global

my_function() {

    global $list;
    $list[0]['group'] = 'groupA';
}

$list = /*...*/
my_function();