passing unknown variables

Anon

I am stuck.

I need a function to use to return the value of a list of variables:
function myFunk ($a, $b, $c) {
echo $a $b $c;
}

Let's say these are the values, but they are unknown to me:
$a=1; $b=2; $c=3;

Moreover, the variables themselves are unknown. All I know is the name of the list that holds the variable names:
$vars='$a, $b, $c';

I need a function to use the list to return the value of the variables:
function myFunk ($vars) {
echo values;
}

The reason I need this is to handle the CGI for a form that reads a mysql database. The form reads the table's field names and creates the form fields dynamically from this. But to handle an update request I have to dynamically retrieve the variable names and values coming from the CGI at runtime.

So, as in the above case, the CGI sends:
mydoc.php?a=1&b=2&c=3

At runtime I go to the table to get a list of field names and add a "$" to them, and this becomes the list of variable names the CGI is passing:
$vars='$a, $b, $c';

I can't get a function to understand that the variable list should be interpreted as variables that hold the CGI data.

Looking for help,

Robyn

Anon

http://www.php.net/manual/function.func-get-args.php

describes how to get an unknown number of parameters from a function. You may want to pass a single array so you can keep the original variable names as the key for each value.

Anon

Thanks for getting back so quickly. But I don't see how this helps the problem.

This seems to find the arguments in a function. In my case, I gather the list of variable names for the arguments at runtime. But all I have in my code is a list name (in the earlier example: $vars). So I don't need it to return the variable names used in arguments, but I need the actual values these variable names produce. Does your clue solve this, and I'm just not seeing it?

Maybe I framed the question wrong. It seems that you clue leads to aiding in the construction of the function,
function foo($vars){
}

I think what I need is something that addresses calling the function and passing it the values from a variable list.

foo ($vars);

Robyn

Anon

I want the solution to know that when a function is passed a variable -

foo($vars);

it looks at it and understands that it is a variable list -

foo($a, $b, $c);

and I need it to see that the list is actually values -

foo(red, green, blue);

kind of like this:

$a="red"; $b="green"; $c="blue";
$vars='$a, $b, $c';
function foo($x){
   echo $x;
}

foo($vars);

Does this make it more clear?

Robyn

Anon

Why don't you just have your function deal directly with HTTP_POST_VARS and/or HTTP_GET_VARS?

Anon

Thanks, that's what I've been looking for.

Robyn