[RESOLVED] foreach output inside function, simple Question

[dabdura]

$words = "some short sentence";

function FirstLetter($words) {
  if(!(empty($words))) {
    $string = explode(" ", $words);
	foreach($string as $words){
	$words = substr(ucwords($words), 0, 1);
	$bla = print($words);
	}
    return $bla;
  } else {
    return "Error";
  }
}

$info = FirstLetter($words);

header("Location: http://somesite.com/&code=".$info."");

if the $words is empty "Error" is passed to the url via $info fine, but i can't make it to pass $bla correctly, it gives me http://somesite.com/&code=1, but again if i comment out header redirect section then it displays $info correctly. but i can't make it pass $info to header redirect correctly. what to do?

[laserlight]

What do you want to return if $words is not empty?

[nevvermind]

Like this?

<?php

$words = "some short bla bla";

function FirstLetter($words) {
    if (!(empty($words))) {
        $string = explode(" ", $words);
        foreach ($string as $words) {
            $acro[] = substr(ucwords($words), 0, 1);            

        }
        return implode($acro);
    } else {
        return "Error";
    }
}

// what's with the ampersand in this url? anyway...
header("Location: http://somesite.com/&code=".FirstLetter($words));
?>

[dabdura]

thanks for replies guys

laserlight if $words is not empty i want to output capitalised first letters of each word from sentence in my example it would be SSS.

nevvermind your solution gives me Fatal error: [] operator not supported for strings in

[nevvermind]

I've tested my previous code and it worked fine.
Try this, then - I've initialized $acro as an array. Also, I've changed the code a lil' bit.

What php version you're running on?

<?php

// I think this is redundant in your case, so I've commented it out
// $words = "some short bla bla";

function FirstLetter($words) {
    if (!(empty($words))) {
        // added below line
        $acro = array();
        $string = explode(" ", $words);
        foreach ($string as $words) {
            $acro[] = substr(ucwords($words), 0, 1);            

        }
        return implode($acro);
    } else {
        return "Error";
    }
}

// what's with the ampersand in this url? anyway...
header("Location: http://somesite.com/&code=".FirstLetter("some short bla bla"));
?>

[dabdura]

Solved

nevvermind I found that you changed $words variable to $acro for a reason. after changing $words[] to something else i'm not getting above error any more. my mistake of using $words[] instead of $acro[] .

thanks for reply again

[laserlight]

In that case you should do something like this:

<?php

function FirstLetter($words) {
    if (!empty($words)) {
        $result = '';
        foreach (explode(' ', $words) as $word) {
            $result .= $word[0];
        }
        return strtoupper($result);
    } else {
        return false;
    }
}

$words = "some short sentence";

if (($info = FirstLetter($words)) === false) {
    $info = 'Error';
}

header('Location: http://somesite.com?code=' . urlencode($info));

There is no need to construct an array when you can append to a string, and then strtoupper will do. Notice also that FirstLetter does not output anything; this job is left to the caller, along with the translation of the false value to whatever error code is deemed appropriate.

EDIT:
Come to think of it, you only need to call strtoupper once. It is also a mistake to output stuff before sending a header, and rather pointless for a location header. My example has been modified accordingly.

[nevvermind]

At the top of your first post, you have a menu "Thread Tools". If you thinks it's solved, choose "Mark Thread Resolved".

[dabdura]

laserlight in my case nevverminds code is more suitable, but thanks for your effort

Marked Resolved
thanks guys

[nevvermind]

@ - Although I agree you're code is better, I don't think I understand why that functions doesn't output. Yes, it's return and not some output functions, but it DOES output the first letters in my case. I guess I'm confused when it comes to returning. If a function is being used (as in "FirstLetters("bla bla"), doesn't it output?

Also, what's better: to make a caller of the function, or to make an error page poiting to "http://somesite.com?code=Error". So, instead of "return false", why not "return 'Error' "?

PS: I'm just asking. I'm learning stuff also.

[laserlight]

nevvermind wrote:

Yes, it's return and not some output functions, but it DOES output the first letters in my case. I guess I'm confused when it comes to returning. If a function is being used (as in "FirstLetters("bla bla"), doesn't it outputs?

No, the function does not print anything as output. Rather, its return value is printed.

That said, it is a mistake to print any output: I just realised that a location header is being sent, so dabdura's original code is wrong to try and output anything. Read my modified code for an update.

nevvermind wrote:

Also, what's better: to make a caller of the function, or to make an error page poiting to "http://somesite.com?code=Error". So, instead of "return false", why not "return 'Error' "?

It is better to return false because it allows the caller to more readily distinguish between a normal return value and an error code. In this case 'Error' cannot possibly be a normal return value since the result is capitalised, but returning false would be more consistent with cases where such an error code might be a normal return value.