maybe a partial answer

[sfullman]

OK, I found a partial answer about getting a function to recognize the NAME of the variable passed and not just the value, but it doesn't make me completely happy, cause it's a workaround. You can pass a variable by REFERENCE.

$start = "7/2/2002";

function changeit($theValue){
$theValue = "July 2nd, 2002";
return "good date";
}

echo "date is $start<BR>";
$report = changeit(&$start);
echo "now date is $start<BR>";

This way, I return a value to $report and change the date as well.

However, I would really like to have access in the function somewhere to know that the actual variable name I passed was called "start" -- is there any way to do this? Makes sense there's some way.

Sam Fullman
Compass Point Media.

[Anon]

Why is passing by reference a "workaround"? It's perfectly fine to pass by reference, and people do use it. This feature is in many language, including C/C++.

Diego

[sfullman]

Well, I'm not saying it's a "workaround" -- I think it's great, but what's wrong with having that information available within the function? For example, it may be useful to know that the variable passed was part of HTTP_POST_VARS or ..GET_VARS or etc., and could trigger the function to different things.

In short,

function black_box(){
///
}

$goodIdea = "this post";
$variableNAME = black_box($goodIdea);
echo "name of the variable you passed was $variableNAME";

//this should print "name of the variable you passed was goodIdea"

CAN IT BE DONE?
P.S. All ribbing aside, I really appreciate the help and have gotten some great tips here.
Sam

[Anon]

No, that cannot be done...If you want the function to do certain things depending on GET, POST, etc, pass a second argument.

Diego

[sfullman]

Well, a confident NO is better than an ambiguous MAYBE :-) Maybe in PHP 5.0 this could be done. I'll let it go for now.

Sam Fullman

[Anon]

I know of no language that has that "feature"...

Diego