useing a variable to define a variable

Anon

Is there a way to use a variable in the name of another variable? for example say i want the variable $name1 can i define it by using another variable like this

$i = 1;
$name$i;

thanks

Anon

you can have variable variables. the value of one variable becomes the name of another.
so:
$var_name = 'name1';
$$name = 'ryan';

you now have a var named $name1 with the value ryan.

-paul
http://xhawk.net

Anon

paul i had try your style but its not working can u give another example

Anon

that was a type-o sorry:

$var_name = 'name1';
$$var_name = 'ryan';

-paul

Anon

I am looking for something like this as well. but I dont think that pauls answer fits the bill.

That code will essentially give you a static variable name of $name1. What I think Ryan was looking for is a way to create serialized variables like $name0, $name1, name2, ....

At least that is what I have done and need to retrieve. I have built a while loop that retrieves some data from a DB and puts it into form fields for a user to verify or edit. I then shoot that to an update page where I want to verify what the user has entered and slap it back to the DB if it meets my test. My problem is that I cant get my varibale to increment so it will read the next instance of the $name from the previous form.

I have tried to do stuff like this:
for ($i=0; $i<$theCount; $i++)
{

$retailer_id = "$retailer_id".$i;
$r_id = $retailer_id;//-- this should be the value from the form--//
}

any help greatly appreciated.

Anon

wouldnt an array be appropriate for something like that?

Anon

Well I suppose it would work well but I had not used that method yet.

WHen I build my form page I am using something like this:
$i=0;
while (OCIFetchInto($sql_st, $row, OCI_ASSOC))
{
$name = $row[name];
$r_id = $row[R_ID];

echo "<input type=text name=name$i value=$name><input type=text name=r_id$i value=$r_id>";
$i++;
}

Then those input variables are thrown to the next page and should be read into the database.
How would I change it over to using an array instead?