array_name() ...

dalecosp

No, it's not a PHP function. Not yet, anyway.

Would it be useful, though? I mean, it's probably just making the PHP binary bigger to add something that's fairly trivial, anyway, but ... I thought about it and wanted some other professional opinions --- that'd be "youse guys" 😃

$girlfriends=array(
"Blake",
"Lila",
"Sofia",
"Selita",
"Miranda"
);

echo "<h2>".ucfirst(array_name($girlfriends)."</h2>";

foreach ($girlfriends as $g) {
   echo "$g, will you marry me?<br />";
}

Now, obviously for something like this it'd be more trouble than it's worth. But suppose you had several arrays ...

Thoughts? Is this doable by a True Way(tm) already? Perhaps variable variables?

Derokorian

echo "<h2>".ucfirst(array_name($girlfriends)."</h2>";

Parse error: unexpected T_STRING expecting ',', ')' etc etc 😛 I don't have it memorized, I always quit reading at the line number.... Anyway what exactly would array_name do? would the output of the above line, when fixed for syntax errors, return <h2>Girlfriends</h2> ? Is that what you're after? If so, I seem to be missing the point, why run the name of a variable through a function just to get the name of the variable?? It would seem you already know the name because you fed it to the function!

dalecosp

Derokorian;10995127 wrote:
echo "<h2>".ucfirst(array_name($girlfriends)."</h2>";

Parse error: unexpected T_STRING expecting ',', ')' etc etc 😛

LOL, tyvm 😉

I don't have it memorized, I always quit reading at the line number....

I believe the line number is the end of it anyways :p

Anyway what exactly would array_name do? would the output of the above line, when fixed for syntax errors, return <h2>Girlfriends</h2> ? Is that what you're after?

Quite so!

If so, I seem to be missing the point, why run the name of a variable through a function just to get the name of the variable?? It would seem you already know the name because you fed it to the function!

OK, let's suppose I have 12 arrays, and I want to do {basically} the same thing with all of them, which includes printing the name of the array as a header. I can make an array of names, add an iterator of some type and then operate on each one (which is what I may have to do) - including some check to make sure that the name I'm printing is actually the current array that will be printed below it, or I could have an array_name() function which would take care of that for me.

Does that help explain my thinking? 🙂

Derokorian

$arrays = array('girlfriends','wives','employees','bosses');
$girlfriends = array('Lucy','Penelope','Monica');
$wives = array('Casey','Danielle','Teresa');
$employees = array('Mark','Cindy','John');
$bosses = array('Jason','Chuck','Sherry');

foreach( $arrays as $array ) {
   echo '<h2>'.ucfirst($array).'</h2>';
   echo listArray($$array);
}

I dunno I guess I don't see the question, you want to type echo array_name($girlfriends) instead of echo 'girlfriends' so you are trying to type extra things!

Also it seems like this is exactly what Multi-Dimensional arrays are for:

$people = array(
   'girlfriends' => array('Lucy','Penelope','Monica'),
   'wives' => array('Casey','Danielle','Teresa'),
   'employees' => array('Mark','Cindy','John'),
   'bosses' => array('Jason','Chuck','Sherry'),
);

foreach( $people as $type => $names ) {
   echo '<h2>'.ucfirst($type).'</h2><ul>';
   foreach( $names as $name ) {
      echo '<li>'.ucfirst($name).'</li>';
   }
   echo '</ul>';
}

dalecosp

Derokorian;10995133 wrote:
$arrays = array('girlfriends','wives','employees','bosses');
$girlfriends = array('Lucy','Penelope','Monica');
$wives = array('Casey','Danielle','Teresa');
$employees = array('Mark','Cindy','John');
$bosses = array('Jason','Chuck','Sherry');

foreach( $arrays as $array ) {
   echo '<h2>'.ucfirst($array).'</h2>';
   echo listArray($$array);
}
I dunno I guess I don't see the question, you want to type echo array_name($girlfriends) instead of echo 'girlfriends' so you are trying to type extra things!

Typing extra things to get extra functionality is a fairly normal occurrence, isn't it? I mean, I'm as lazy as the next guy, but ...

Also it seems like this is exactly what Multi-Dimensional arrays are for:

$people = array(
   'girlfriends' => array('Lucy','Penelope','Monica'),
   'wives' => array('Casey','Danielle','Teresa'),
   'employees' => array('Mark','Cindy','John'),
   'bosses' => array('Jason','Chuck','Sherry'),
);

foreach( $people as $type => $names ) {
   echo '<h2>'.ucfirst($type).'</h2><ul>';
   foreach( $names as $name ) {
      echo '<li>'.ucfirst($name).'</li>';
   }
   echo '</ul>';
}

Well, you've definitely hit on something there. I'm just looking for more abstraction ... what if my code is taking data from someplace I don't know much about, didn't write, etc., and all I know is that I have a named array?

Derokorian

Don't be offended dale - I confuse very easily 😛 Maybe I've just never been in a position where someone has control over the names of my variables besides me. I mean even when I query an API or something I decide what to name the variable to store the return result in...

dalecosp

bradgrafelman;10995138 wrote:
There's no such thing - arrays don't have names.

Ok, labels? Pointers? What is that thing, then? PHP certainly understands that the variable $girlsfriends refers to the array it holds...why can't it just cough that up? 😃

Derokorian

$a = new StdObject();
$b =& $a;

Would you want $a or $b back as they point to the same object (if I change $a then $b changes as well)

dalecosp

I might well agree with "organized better", but I'm organizing someone else's data the way someone else wants it organized.

I'm not sure I want to spend another day trying to figure out a different way to do it when its value to the business is negligible anyway. I've found several people asking for a way to do this via Google, but there's no real answer except "do it differently." I'm refactoring the data/code in question to use multidimensional arrays all round so I can use the $key as a header, but I hate debugging nested loops.

It seems overkill to create an object-oriented structure for this.

$stuff=new MyStuff();
$stuff->name="Girlfriends";
$stuff->list=array("Cindy","Jan","Marsha");

Although that would indeed but a way to skin this cat.

Plus, another potential issue (not in the current problem, but I could foresee it), would be a data structure of $n levels ... I'm still kinda convinced it would just simplify things a bit to just be able to call that array's 'name' --- not sure why I'm arguing, though. Seems a small thing. (/me wonders if Python can do it).

Weedpacket

There's [man]get_defined_vars[/man], which gives you all the names, but doesn't tell you which one you want. You could pick through them with === but you won't necessarily get the right name, just one for a variable with the same value. (But what value? What would go on the other side of the identity operator?)

I'm still a bit bemused about the requirement: you want to know the name of the $girlfriends array - but you have to know the name (i.e. 'girlfriends') in order to identify which array you want the name of, don't you?

Derokorian

He's asking "Hey what is John's name?"

Weedpacket

Okay, I think I have a better idea of what's wanted:

$girlfriends = array("Cindy","Jan","Marsha"); 
$places = array("Baton Rouge","Berlin","Kinshasa"); 

print_name_of($girlfriends);
print_name_of($places);

function print_name_of($something)
{
    $name = /* insert deep magic here, presumably involving $something */
   echo $name,"\n";
}

Outputs

girlfriends
places

Really, I'm not seeing a way to do it.... In theory it could be done with stack traces and parsing source files for the line numbers it cites (assuming the source code cooperates), but that's not a practical solution.

dalecosp

I have the feeling that if it were practical, it might have been implemented already. My C-fu is such that it would take a very impractical amount of time for me to research, plan, create, debug, and then push (evangelize?) a solution (particularly given that it seems non-intuitive to a great many of us). Coming from a non comp-sci background, I'm obviously thinking outside the box. And BradG's point that the data isn't particularly well-organized is particularly well-taken.

There's a fairly ugly and expensive-looking Python hack that might do this, but Guido et al obviously haven't seen the need for it, either.

My current project has been modified to use nested multi-dim arrays, as noted above, so I'll probably let it drop.

But thanks to all of you for your input 🙂

dalecosp

Derokorian;10995159 wrote:
He's asking "Hey what is John's name?"

No, actually, and with my apologies for the analogy, it's more like I'm a gigolo with a line of girls outside the door and asking the current one, "Hey, baby, what's your name?"

Or, perhaps I'm doing line-ups or job interviews and each participant is to state his/her name for the record.

Which means that I probably should've implemented an OOP structure for this task, but, as I said earlier, it seems overkill for just printing a nested ordered list from some arrays.

cretaceous

a bit off topic but I find this mini function useful

function printr($input) {
	// takes string name of var as input 
	 global $$input;
  echo '<pre style="margin-top:0;font-size:80%;line-height:1"><i>'.$input.' </i>';
  print_r($$input);
  echo '</pre>';
}

then in my script I can do printr('arrayname') and I don't have to add any 'pre' tags AND it prints out the name of the array at the top - handy for debugging with multiple arrays
of course you need to know name of array first
plus my wife has kludged my install of PHP so it won't handle any array of girlfriends

dalecosp

cretaceous;10995187 wrote:
a bit off topic but I find this mini function useful
function printr($input) {
	// takes string name of var as input 
	 global $$input;
  echo '<pre style="margin-top:0;font-size:80%;line-height:1"><i>'.$input.' </i>';
  print_r($$input);
  echo '</pre>';
}
then in my script I can do printr('arrayname') and I don't have to add any 'pre' tags AND it prints out the name of the array at the top - handy for debugging with multiple arrays
of course you need to know name of array first
plus my wife has kludged my install of PHP so it won't handle any array of girlfriends

LOL! My wife would kludge ME if I suggested having a girlfriend ... 'cause she kicks butt. 😃

And I often write functions similar in nature to yours ... that's why functions exist, to lessen the work load. They say that OOP will do that, too, but my module has gone from 65 lines of code to 238 already, and it's not yet working again. :eek:

And I'm converting it to OOP just so I can print a header with the name of the array/object. Balderdash.

dalecosp

dalecosp;10995190 wrote:
... OOP will do that, too, but my module has gone from 65 lines of code to 238 already, and it's not yet working again. :eek:

And I'm converting it to OOP just so I can print a header with the name of the array/object. Balderdash.

I managed to get it working and cut ONE measly line of code. So, instead of 65 lines and a way to print the name of an array, I have 237 lines of code, including a class definition and lots of creating objects instead of arrays (which, of course have arrays in them).

Which, BTW, is why I'd like to have such a function. But, ah ... well.