Question

Possible Duplicate:
PHP global variable not found in functions

I have a function that reads data from a database. I have an array that I want to put data from the database into for easier manipulation. I define my array outside the function and populate it when the function is called.

$rid = "";
if(isset($_GET['rid'])){
  $rid = $_GET['rid'];
}

$dates = array();    
function getData($rid){
  //Db Connection Strings
  //Query stuff etc

  //DATES
  for ($i=0; $i < 5; $i++) { 
    $mil = (float)$query->table->records->record->f[$i];
    $seconds = $mil / 1000;
    $dt = gmdate('m-d-Y', $seconds);

    $dates[$i] = $dt;
  }  
  print_r($dates);//THIS WORKS
}

getData($rid);
print_r($dates);//THIS DOESN'T

My issue is: Unless I call refer to $dates within the function, it will not spit out my data. I need to have this done outside the function so I can put the values into text fields at run time.

How do I get my values into my $dates array so they can be used globally? Thanks!

Answer 1

There are three basic ways you can do this: passing the array by reference, calling it globally, and returning it from the function.

Pass by reference

function getData($rid, &$dates) {
    ...
    for ($i=0; $i < 5; $i++) { 
        ...
        $dates[$i] = $dt;
    }
}

getData($rid, $dates);

Returning

function getData($rid) {
    $dates = array();
    ...
    for ($i=0; $i < 5; $i++) { 
        ...
        $dates[$i] = $dt;
    }
    return $dates;
}

$dates = getData($rid);

Globals

function getData($rid){
    global $dates;
    ...
    for ($i=0; $i < 5; $i++) { 
        ...
        $dates[$i] = $dt;
    }  
}