Comments on: How to use variable variables in PHP

By: Jatinder Verma

Jatinder Verma — Wed, 13 Dec 2017 07:06:00 +0000

But the problem is that field variable is now local variable.. 🙁

By: bayard barnslee

bayard barnslee — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 19:44:08 +0000

The presence of variable variables in code is a flashing red light that the programmer was either 1) a hack and a lazy one at that, or 2) had to work with a mess left by a lazy hack and had no time to refactor it so variable variables are not needed.

In both cases the hack is using variable variables like a Looney Tunes cartoon character uses an Acme Portable Hole — whenever they realize they're backed into a corner, they resolve the dilemma by dropping a Portable Hole and bailing or having the bad guy disappear in it. Problem solved.

Variable variables in the code is almost always the sign of a clever amateur who is in way over his head but is too full of himself to realize that.

By: dmjones

dmjones — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 16:45:57 +0000

The alternative was suggested and works well

$this->{'_' . $key} = $val;

By: dmjones

dmjones — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 06:35:30 +0000

I wanted to use this avenue in order to populate private variables of a class using an array as input. However, the values don't seem to stay or aren't even assigned to the private vars. Any ideas?

class aClass {
private $_fruitA;
private $_fruitB;
private $_fruitC;

public function set($inputArray)
{
foreach ($inputArray as $key=>$val)
{
$var = "this->_{$key}";
$$var = $val;

//prints nothing
print "this->_$key: ".$this->_fruit."n";

//prints the $val assigned in $inputArray
print "$$var: ".$$var."nn";
}
}
}

$fruit = new aClass();
$fruit->set(array('fruitA' => 'apple', 'fruitB' => 'banana'));

By: Scat DVD

Scat DVD — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 17:20:05 +0000

Variables are used for storing values, like text strings, numbers or arrays. When a variable is declared, it can be used over and over again in your script. thanks for sharing the informative post.

By: Josh Fraser

Josh Fraser — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:41:59 +0000

In reply to robert. Try this http://bit.ly/1eiBtw

By: Josh Fraser

Josh Fraser — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:41:59 +0000

In reply to robert. Try this http://bit.ly/1eiBtw

By: robert

robert — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:08:03 +0000

I came to your post looking for an aswer for my PHP class assigment. Proffesor asked, 3.When is better to use a local variable? I can't seem to find an aswer for any. Any help will be great.

By: Josh Fraser

Josh Fraser — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 22:49:10 +0000

In reply to fractalbit. Yeah, the formatting is a bit wonky. Sorry about that. I use a service called IntenseDebate for my comments. They give me a bunch of awesome features but it means I have to deal with a couple small issues like formatting and the inability to edit a comment. Totally worth the trade-off if you ask me.

By: fractalbit

fractalbit — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 18:14:21 +0000

In reply to fractalbit. hmmm, it doesn't appear very well, it removed tabs and br actually appears as a new line instead of printing it. Is there a special tag i should use when posting code? (ex. {pre}code{/pre} ) P.S. You added the ability to edit comments? :) (Or is it because i am now registered to intenseDebate?)