Set all variables to zero?

Klepto

Is there a simple way to set all variables to zero at the beginning of my script?

I want to echo out a bunch of variables.... some of which exist & some dont. ...so if they dont exist, i want it to spit out a zero.

Is that possible without going thru & setting each one individually?

feldon23

foreach ($GLOBALS as $key => $value) {
$GLOBALS[$key] = '0';
}

Obviously this will render all scripts that depend on form results, session variables, cookies, and query variables useless.

laserlight

Another problem with that is that if the variable doesnt exist, it wont be in $GLOBALS anyway.

BuzzLY

If you know what all the variables are, you can do something like this:

<?php
$test1 = 123;
$test2 = "Mike";
$testvar23 = "foo";

$a_vars = array("test1",
                "test2",
                "test3",
                "test4",
                "testvar22",
                "testvar23"
                );

echo "Display variables. Some may be empty:<br>";
foreach ($a_vars as $a) {
  echo "&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;" . $a . ": " . $$a . "<br>";
}

echo "<br>Fill empty variables with '0' and display again:<br>";
foreach ($a_vars as $b) {
  $$b = (empty($$b)?"0":$$b);
  echo "&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;" . $b . ": " . $$b . "<br>";
}
?>

However, if it's crucial that all variables have an initial value of "0", then you should simply set them all to "0" at the beginning of your script.

Moonglobe

one thing to note is that when youuse an undefined variable it sends an error of the E_NOTICE level and sets the variable to null. so all un-initialised variables equate to false, if that was what you were wondering about...

just a thought
moon

BuzzLY

Yes, that's true, moonglobe. However, if the variable exists, and he happens to have an existing variable equal to FALSE then he could inadvertently reset it to "0". That is why I suggest checking with empty/I.

feldon23

This guy needs to just write a function return_empty(); which, if the variable is empty, will be returned as 0 (zero).

BuzzLY

yes, that would work too... just depends on his needs, I guess...

Klepto

ya, ill give that a try, thanks