Use value of a variable in a function

[Anon]

I have a script that checks for available domain names. My problem is that when it prints out the results, the value of $format is always equal to "" altough I change the value of it in another function.
At the beginning of the code (right below <?php...) I declared the variable like that:
$format="";
and then I call a function in where it checks for a name, if the name is found, i set the value of $format="yes" , otherwise i set it to $format="no". But in the other function where it prints out the results, the value of $format="" again. Can anyone help? Thanks in advance for the responses.

[[deleted]]

Inside a function a variable has it's own scope, so in order to use $format the way you want to you'll need to do one of two things:

1.) make the variable global:
$format = "";
foo();
echo $format;

function foo() {
global $format;
$format = "bar";
}

2.) pass a reference to the variable:
$format = "";
foo($format);
echo $format;

function foo(&$variable) {
$variable = "bar";
}

Both of these approaches will produce the same result, echoing bar.