how to assign the result of a function to a variable

marcnyc

Hello, I have a function - which is called menuthml(); - that returns some links in html format.

I would like to assign the RESULT of that function to a variable so that I can susequentially deal with it as if it were a text string.

I have tried this:

$menuhtml = menuhtml();

but something in this approach must be wrong because even though the variable $menuhtml contains what the function would return, if I do something on the variable (for example I tried $menuhtml = str_replace('Biography','<br>',$menuhtml);) and then echo the variable $menuhtml I still see the original function's result, unaffected by my str_replace...

Can anybody suggest a work around? Thanks

drawmack

should work, can't help without any code though

Paragon

Yes I tried the same thing and it didn't work. I mean it worked the value returned was 1, but it just spat out the fucntion where ever it was placed. Even though I echoed it out in a totally different place.

The place I echoed it out at returned the value of 1 and then it showed the actual results at the top of the page. (I assigned the variable to the function at the top of the page)

marcnyc

Here is the code you asked for:

function menuhtml() {
echo '
<a href="$menu0URL">Biography</a> |
<a href="$menu1URL">Something</a> |

';
}

$menuhtml = menuhtml();
$menuhtml = str_replace('Biography','<br>',$menuhtml);
echo $menuhtml;

If I do this I will always get Biography back and never <br>

nemonoman

you need to use a return to make this approach work. Read up on functions.

Here's how your code should be:

function menuhtml() {
return '
<a href="$menu0URL">Biography</a> |
<a href="$menu1URL">Something</a> |
';
}

$menuhtml = menuhtml();
echo $menuhtml;
$menuhtml = str_replace('Biography','<br>',$menuhtml);
echo $menuhtml;

Weedpacket

Well there's your problem. menuhtml() echos the code itself, and doesn't return it. You want to return it, not echo it.

function menuhtml()
{    return '<a href="$menu0URL">Biography</a> |
<a href="$menu1URL">Something</a> |';
}

marcnyc

I got it...
Thanks guys...
I knew I can count on you!

nemonoman

please reread my previous answer. I included example code to print the return from the function.

BuzzLY

nemonoman, look at the timestamps for your and Weedpacket's responses. No doubt he was still writing his when you posted your response. It doesn't invalidate your reply.

nemonoman

I remarked that Weedy and I were on the case at the same time.

We both changed the function to RETURN the value. Weedy assumed that marcy would figure it out from there while I included example code to echo the function return.

Weedy was too optimistic: the original answer that marcy later edited complained that our code 'didn't work'.

After I posted my "reread my post", Marcy edited his answer to 'thanks guys'.

marcnyc

sorry about the confusion, sometimes you guys are just too fast ;-)
I initially made a mistake when implementing your solution (and reported it) and then immediately figured it out and edited my post to avoid misunderstandings, but I guess within those 5 minutes you were already on the case and had already replied (I didn't reload before editing because I didn't think there would be any replies within 5 minutes)

nemonoman

It's all good. Glad you found your answers.

BuzzLY

Originally posted by nemonoman
After I posted my "reread my post", Marcy edited his answer to 'thanks guys'.

Ah... that would explain the confusion.

Just an FYI, marcnyc: I encourage people to edit their posts to fix mistakes, instead of posting new messages. However, if you edit your post and completely change your response, Then the whole flow of the thread gets messed up. Sure, it's good for YOU, but someone else coming in to read the thread to resolve their own problems ('cause we know that ALL newbies search for answers to their problem before posting, right?) might be confused.

marcnyc

I know what you mean, but EXACTLY the reason you mention is what pushed me to edit my answer completely. First of all I need to stress that this all happened within less than 3 minutes so I didn't expect anybody to even notice what I did. But most importantly in my answer I had written "it doesn't work" and it wasn't working because of a stupid mistake on my side, so when I realized I decided to delete the whole answer BECAUSE it might confuse newbies that are searching for answers, so we are on the same page.