Get variable name in PHP

Question

In the below code, how do I check if $variable equals "$one".

<?php  
    $one = array (1,2,3);
    $two = array (4,5,6);

    $variables = array ($one, $two);

    foreach ($variables as $variable){
        //check if the $variable is equal to "$one"
            //do stuff that is specific for array $one
    }   
?>

Check http://stackoverflow.com/questions/255312/how-to-get-a-variable-name-as-a-string-in-php — napolux, Sep 03 '12 at 10:40
Please clarify your question. Do you want to just check if $variable is equal to $one or no? `if($variable == $one) { //Do things }` — Miro Markaravanes, Sep 03 '12 at 10:40
`$variable == $one` does this not work for you. Array can be compared as variables — Shakti Singh, Sep 03 '12 at 10:41
Do you have the ability to place indexes of the array values: `'one' => $one, 'two' => $two`... — Rolice, Sep 03 '12 at 10:41
This question doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Please clarify what you are trying to do exactly and why. — deceze, Sep 03 '12 at 10:42
Possible duplicate of [How to get a variable name as a string in PHP?](https://stackoverflow.com/q/255312/1255289) — miken32, Jul 24 '18 at 21:27

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 03 '12 at 10:42

4

For more information visit this

<?php  
    $one = array (1,2,3);
    $two = array (4,5,6);

    $variables = array ($one, $two);

    foreach ($variables as $variable){
        //check if the $variable is equal to "$one"
           if($variable === $one)
            //do stuff
    }   
?>

answered Sep 03 '12 at 10:42

Uttara

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`$three = array (1,2,3); $variables[] = $three;`. That will execute the `// do stuff` twice. – Berry Langerak Sep 03 '12 at 10:46
2

if this is really what the OP wants, the question should be closed because it's not a real question asking how to do an IF block. – Gordon Sep 03 '12 at 10:47

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 03 '12 at 10:41

1

Simply put, you can't. You can add a key to the values though:

<?php  
$one = array (1,2,3);
$two = array (4,5,6);

$variables = array ( 'one' => $one, 'two' => $two);

foreach ($variables as $key => $variable){
    //check if the $variable is equal to "$one"
    if( $key === 'one' ) {
        //do stuff that is specific for array $one
    }
}

answered Sep 03 '12 at 10:41

Berry Langerak

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Why the downvote? Is this not a viable alternative to getting the name of a variable? – Berry Langerak Sep 03 '12 at 10:45
Thank you, this was the solution I was looking for. – Nikola Sep 03 '12 at 11:23

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 03 '12 at 10:43

  foreach ($variables as $variable){
        if($variable == $one)//TRUE if $a and $b have the same key/value pairs.
        {

        }
    }

And if you want to check for order and types as well you can do as follow:

  foreach ($variables as $variable){
        if($variable === $one)
        {

        }
    }

score 1 · Answer 4 · edited Nov 13 '12 at 10:08

1

You can check with

if($variable===$one)

You are taking multi dimensional array. Keep in mind and you need to check with "===", not with "==" because its not an variable or even a string.

edited Nov 13 '12 at 10:08

Bart

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answered Sep 03 '12 at 10:57

GautamD31

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Get variable name in PHP

4 Answers4