Re: Why is variable not in scope?

When you were trying to pass it as an argument, did you remember to declare it in the function's argument list? // You can name your argument variables whatever you like function nav_list($an_array_arg) { // Use $an_array_arg... } // Call the function with your array as an argument nav_list($auth_array); On Sat, Jul 27, 2019 at 10:20 PM John <john.iliffe@iliffe.ca> wrote: > 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 > } > } > > >