note 30679 rejected from reserved.variables by joey

It seems that when you wish to export a varible, you can do it as return $varible, return an array(), or globalise it. If you return something, information for that varible can only travel one way when the script is running, and that is out of the function. function fn() { $varible = "something"; return $variable; } echo fn(); OR $newvariable = fn(); Although if global was used, it creates a pointer to a varible, whether it existed or not, and makes whatever is created in the function linked to that global pointer. So if the pointer was global $varible, and then you set a value to $varible, it would then be accessible in the global scope. But then what if you later on in the script redefine that global to equal something else. This means that whatever is put into the global array, the information that is set in the pointer, can be set at any point (overiden). Here is an example that might make this a little clearer: function fn1() { global $varible; // Pointer to the global array $varible = "something"; } fn1(); echo $varible; // Prints something $varible = "12345"; echo $varible; // Prints 12345 function fn2() { global $varible; // Pointer to the global array echo $varible; } fn2(); // echos $varible which contains "12345" Basically with the global array, you can set it refer to something already defined or set it to something, (a pointer) such as varible you plan to create in the function, and later possibly over ride the pointer with something else.