Re: Why is variable not in scope?

Yes, I did do that. Was one of the things I tried when I was attempting to debug it. Regards John============================ On Sat, 2019-07-27 at 22:35 -0600, LinuxManMikeC wrote: > 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 > > > > > > > > } > > > > > > > > } > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >