help with returns in a function

webchef

hello people.. and thanks in advance for the help...

here is a function:

function callArticle ($articleChoice) {
		// Run query to retrieve article
		$sql = "SELECT * FROM loc_news WHERE auto_id = '$articleChoice'";
		$result = mysql_query($sql)
			or die ("Unable to complete query:<br>" .mysql_errno(). " : " .mysql_error());

	// Check the existence of the article
	$exist = mysql_num_rows($result);
	if ($exist != 1) {
		// Run query to retrieve first article
		$sql = "SELECT * FROM loc_news WHERE auto_id = '1'";
		$result = mysql_query($sql)
			or die ("Unable to complete query:<br>" .mysql_errno(). " : " .mysql_error());
	}

	// Place article details in an array
	$articleDetails = mysql_fetch_array($result);
	// Return article details for use in the form
	return $exist, $articleDetails;

obviously.. this doesn't work.. i can return more than one variable.. and i need to... any ideas? thanks again..

mike

paulnaj

There is a way to do this:

// Define the function to return an array.
function DoSomething(){
   $retval1 = 10;
   $retval2 = 11;
   return array($retval1, $retval2);
}

//Then, use the 'list' function to extract the two parameters:

list($ret1, $ret2) = DoSomething();

echo $ret1; // 10
echo $ret2; // 11

AstroTeg

I've done the return an array trick. It works well. But something I had seen hinted at and hadn't tried until a few minutes ago is passing variable by reference.

Check this out:

$test1 = 1;
$test2 = 2;

echo $test1 . ' - ' . $test2 . '<p>';
makechange(&$test1, &$test2);
echo $test1 . ' - ' . $test2 . '<p>';


function makechange(&$var1, &$var2)
{
	$var1++;
	$var2 += 5;
}  // end function makechange(&$var1, &$var2)

Results are:

1 - 2

2 - 7

So all you have to do is add '&' to the function's parameter list and when you call the function, add '&' to the variables you're passing in. You do not need the return statement. And when the function gets done, those variables you passed to the function will be updated.