Re: Why is variable not in scope?

Bingo! That worked properly. Does lead to a suggestion: mention that in the Function Arguments section of the documentation! Also, for my curiosity (only) why would this not work when I passed $auth_array or &$auth_array as an argument to the call? It should have been in scope in the main programme so the value should have been available, and certainly the address was for a pass-by-reference. Thanks to all the people who replied to my question, especially for how quickly you did so. Made my life MUCH easier! Regards, John============================== On Sat, 2019-07-27 at 21:47 -0600, LinuxManMikeC wrote: > Functions don't automatically have access to global variables. Use the > 'global' keyword to declare what global variables you're going to use in your > function. > > function nav_list() { > global $auth_array; > // Code... > } > > https://www.php.net/manual/en/language.variables.scope.php > > On Sat, Jul 27, 2019, 19:47 John <john.iliffe@iliffe.ca> wrote: > > There is probably another way to do this but I have spent a good few hours > > > > trying to resolve it and I think there is something wrong with the way I > > > > understand the scope of variables in PHP, so an answer would be appreciated. > > > > > > > > I have a PHP (7.1.3) programme that opens a database during initialization, > > > > gathers an associative array of variables (pg_fetch_array) and then closes > > the > > > > database. The array name is $auth_array. During actual display of the page > > the > > > > values of the elements of the array are used to control what is (not) > > displayed > > > > and lookup of the values is done using a separate function. > > > > > > > > At this point I can print_r() the array and it contains what I expect. > > > > > > > > In the next line, I call a user-defined function nav_list() where this array > > is > > > > used in the form $auth_array['column name']. At this point I get a PHP > > error > > > > "Got error 'PHP message: PHP Notice: Undefined variable: auth_array in > > > > /httpd/myprogramme/yrarcex.php on line 74\nPHP message: PHP Notice: > > Undefined > > > > variable: auth_array .... . At this point I cannot print_r the array, the > > same > > > > undefined variable message appears. > > > > > > > > I expected that auth_array would be in global scope. > > > > > > > > so I tried calling nav_list() with no arguments, then with the name of the > > array > > > > as the only argument, and with the address of the array (&$auth_array) and > > also > > > > with the explicit cast nav_list(array $auth_array) and I always get the same > > > > error message. (not a data type error as suggested in the docs). > > > > > > > > So far as I can see I am following the online documentation at > > > > > > > > https://www.php.net/manual/en/functions.arguments.php > > > > > > > > exactly. > > > > > > > > The definition of nav_list() is; > > > > > > > > function nav_list() > > > > { > > > > if ($auth_array['u_....'] == 't') <---- this is line 74 as shown > > in the > > error > > > > { > > > > // display something > > > > } > > > > } > > > > > > > > > >