[RESOLVED] Using Return within Foreach

[stephdumais]

Hi, I've been wondering why using returns inside foreach itinerations only return one element? For example:

 foreach($array as $a){
   return $a;
 }

Why does this only return the last element from my $array?
If I use echo instead of return, all the elements get displayed. How should I be doing this?

[Piranha]

The return command returns one thing and one thing only. When return is called it will return what it is set to return, then the function stops. I don't understand what you try to do, but if you want to return the array just do so, instead of your code above just use "return $array;".

[stephdumais]

Ok, here are some more details.
The reason I want to use return within the foreach in the first place is that I'm using functions to generate menus. I dont want to use echos within this functions, I just want them to return the menus so that I can echo the function itself when needed:

function the_menu($condition){

$array = array('menu1','menu2','menu3');

foreach($array as $item){

if($item == $condition){ 
    return $item.'_hilited'; 
}  else {
    return $item;
}

}

I would then like to use the_menu($condition) as a variable instead of executing it.
Example:

$the_menu = the_menu('menu2');

If I use echo statements within the function, the items are printed instead of being stored into my $the_menu variable.

So what would be the proper way to do this?

[Piranha]

I would store them in a new array and return that array.

[stephdumais]

I see, so:

1. Storing them into a new array would require an itineration, correct? How would I go about this? Adding strings to each array element?

2. If the final variable is an array, I still need to print this out. As it is an array, I would have no choice than to use the implode function? Or is there a more elegant way to do this?

Thank you for bearing with me!

[laserlight]

One way is to build a string from the array of menu items. Another way is to return an array, and then use implode() as you suggested.

// Build a string from the array of menu items
function build_menu($current_item) {
    $items = array('menu1', 'menu2', 'menu3');
    $menu = '';
    foreach ($items as $item) {
        if ($item == $current_item) {
            $menu .= $item . '_hilited';
        } else {
            $menu .= $item;
        }
        $menu .= ' ';
    }
    return $menu;
}

// Alternative: return an array of menu items
function build_menu($current_item) {
    $items = array('menu1', 'menu2', 'menu3');
    if (($key = array_search($current_item, $items)) !== false) {
        $items[$key] .= '_hilited';
    }
    return $items;
}

[stephdumais]

Many thanks, this makes my function even more reusable 🙂