Dynamically name PHP variable in a Loop

Question

I am having trouble dynamically naming my PHP variables when doing a foreach loop. Here is my code:

$count = count($_POST['member']);
for ($i = 0; $i < $count; $i++) {
    $fname = $_POST['member'][$i]['fname'];
    $lname = $_POST['member'][$i]['lname'];
}

How would I append the number contained in $i to $fname & $lname so that $fname & $lname become $fname1 & $lname_2 and so on? Or is there a better way of doing this? Nothing I have tried works.

@TheSmose My main goal is to store all of the information in $_SESSION variables that can be retrieved later. Say there are 7 new "Contacts" added, I want to loop through the data and store each value to $_SESSION variables — three3, Dec 04 '12 at 05:07

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 04 '12 at 05:09

1

$i = 0;
$output = array();

foreach ($_POST['member'] as $member)
{
   $output['fname' . $i] = $member['fname'];   
   $output['lname' . $i] = $member['lname'];
   $i++;
}

extract($output);

Though..why?

answered Dec 04 '12 at 05:09

wesside

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snap... +1 for posting ahead of me using `extract` – Muthu Kumaran Dec 04 '12 at 05:12
@bigman My main goal is to store all of the information in $_SESSION variables that can be retrieved later. Say there are 7 new "Contacts" added, I want to loop through the data and store each value to $_SESSION variables – three3 Dec 04 '12 at 05:12
So change $output to $_SESSION..This is baddd practice man. At very least store $output into the session and exact that later..but hell, I would just find a better way to go about this. – wesside Dec 04 '12 at 05:14

Steven Moseley · Accepted Answer · 2012-12-04T05:12:59.253

0

EDIT: Answer to your new question - how to store in the session:

session_start();
$count = count($_POST['member']);
for ($i = 0; $i < $count; $i++) {
    $_SESSION["fname_{$i}"] = $_POST['member'][$i]['fname'];
    $_SESSION["lname_{$i}"] = $_POST['member'][$i]['lname'];
}

edited Dec 04 '12 at 05:12

answered Dec 04 '12 at 05:05

Steven Moseley

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My main goal is to store all of the information in $_SESSION variables that can be retrieved later. Say there are 7 new "Contacts" added, I want to loop through the data and store each value to $_SESSION variables – three3 Dec 04 '12 at 05:10
That's a different problem... will add a solution for that now – Steven Moseley Dec 04 '12 at 05:12
Awesome, I will test it out now. Will let you know how it goes – three3 Dec 04 '12 at 05:14
There you go... this will store values from the POST into the SESSION – Steven Moseley Dec 04 '12 at 05:14
Don't forget `session_start()` !! – Steven Moseley Dec 04 '12 at 05:16
let us [continue this discussion in chat](http://chat.stackoverflow.com/rooms/20549/discussion-between-three3-and-thesmose) – three3 Dec 04 '12 at 05:57

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 04 '12 at 05:07

0

Try this

$count = count($_POST['member']);
for ($i = 0; $i < $count; $i++) {
 $fname.'_'.$i = $_POST['member'][$i]['fname'];
 $lname.'_'.$i = $_POST['member'][$i]['lname'];
}

So you can access $fname_1,$fname_2 etc...

answered Dec 04 '12 at 05:07

Sanjay

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score -1 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 04 '12 at 05:06

-1

Hi try the simple concatination(".") operator of php.. So your code will be

$count = count($_POST['member']);
for ($i = 0; $i < $count; $i++) {
    $fname = $_POST['member']['fname'.$i];
    $lname = $_POST['member']['lname_'.$i];
}

answered Dec 04 '12 at 05:06

Ayyappan Sekar

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Dynamically name PHP variable in a Loop

4 Answers4