Function not returning like I thought it would

[aaron_karp]

Here's my function:

	function nextname() {
		global $modcounter;
		global $modID;
		return "app" . $modcounter++ . "|" . $modID;
	}

and heres the code that calls it. Don't worry about the "echoval()" function. It's not important to my problem.

echo "
<input type='text' name='" . $recwriter = nextname() . "' value='" . echoval("app" . ($modcounter - 1) . "|" . $modID, $modID) . "'>
<input type=hidden name=recwriter value='$recwriter'>";

But the value of the hidden field is always empty, while the name of the text field always has the appropriate value. Shouldn't the value be assigned to the $recwriter variable, and then to my hidden variable as well?

[devinemke]

$recwriter = nextname();

echo '
<input type="text" name="' . $recwriter . '" value="' . echoval('app' . ($modcounter - 1) . '|' . $modID, $modID) . '">
<input type="hidden" name="recwriter" value="' . $recwriter . '">
';

[aaron_karp]

Thanks Devin. Any idea why it doesn't work the other way though?