why can I not return() from a function?

Anon

Maybe it's because it's Saturday PM, and my mind is more focussed on the night out ahead, but could someone throw some cold water on me to wake me up and tell me why I cannot do this!

I have a function which basically grabs two values from a database -

$value1=<a href="htttp://somesite.com">
$value2=</a>

to keep it sweet.
at the end, I have

echo "$value1 Test Link </a>";
return $value1;

and then back in the code, I have
echo "$value1 Test Link </a>";

the first echo before the function ends works, the one back in the code with $value1 returned doesn't. WTF?
(Also, as a side note - do I have to put value1 and value2 in an array if I want them both returned or will
return $value1, $value2;
work?
(as I cannot return() one value, I can't test my side note...

Cheers.

Anon

when you call the function are you doing it like this:

$value1=function($argument);

then calling:
echo "$value1 Test Link </a>";

or are you just hoping that $value1 will carry through by itself? Remember that all variables used in a function (unless declared otherwise) have a local scope, meaning they won't have a value in your regular script.

and yes, you must create an array to return if you wish to have more than one value returned.

Anon

Thanks Craig!

As you had correctly assumed, my script went:

myfunction($arg1, $arg2);

echo $returned_val;

...where myfunction simply did something with $arg1 and $arg2 and then
return $returned_val;

Thus, now
$returned_val=myfunction($arg1, $arg2);
echo $returned_val;

works
Cheers

Actually, when you look at both, they both look like they should work. I was trying to find the answer to my problem by looking up return() when I should have been studying functions more closely! tut tut.

tasistro

The array thing

$value[1]=$value1;
$value[2]=$value2;

return $value;

Saludos
Gerardo

Anon

hey andy, I think the array thing is not "beutifull". You should try passing your variables by reference, like this:

DoSomething($value1, $value2);

funtion DoSomething(&$v1, &$v2)
{
$v1=something;
$v2=something_else;
}

in a future time, when someone have to review your code, he will not hate you 🙂

Anon

I'm not quite sure what you mean there - I would like not to pass my function returns as arrays if possible. Currently I have:

function DoSomething($v) {
... //do something
$returnValue1=111;
$returnValue2=222;

$returnVar=array("$returnValue1", "$returnValue2");

return $returnVar;
}

$value=DoSomething($value);
$returnValue1=$returnVar[0];
$returnValue2=$returnVar[1];

I can't think of a way around not returning an array, since the ...//do something bit involves an explode() function which is part of the return()....

tasistro

Andy, I find using arrays as return variable a very nice solution in php given the way it handles arrays. Specially when managing user input in a form. You can make it get all the data into one single variable which is an array and you move that along your script.

Saludos
Gerardo

Anon

that's the way I've gone - thanks for the help.

Much appreciated!

bfranco

this is just a suggestion to make your code clearer, it does not mean that what you did is wrong.
I'll do it with your own example:

function DoSomething($v, &$returnValue1, &$returnValue2) {
... //do something
$returnValue1=111;
$returnValue2=222;
}

DoSomething($value, $returnValue1, $returnValue2);

//at this point, $returnValue1 is 111 and $returnValue2 is 222.

You see??? everything you do with $returnValue1 and $returnValue2 inside your DoSomething() function modifies the value of these variables after function execution finishes, thanks to the "&".

the code is shorter, and much clearer. It's just a matter of good programming.

Anon

Thanks Francois,

I was a bit baffled by your &$returnValue earlier. I didn't know about that, and I agee it makes it a lot clearer. Furthermore, my returned value was an <a href="site.com> html tag, which meant I had to urlencode() and urldecode() or else things got screwed up. This way, everythiing is much simpler!

Cheers