PHP passing array variable from function

Question

I try to work on an global array from a function. Here is my code:

$myArray = array();
myfunc($myArray);
var_dump($myArray);

function myfunc($myArray){
    //perform some other tasks
    $myArray['name']='John';
}

But didn't work. The var_dump return empty array. How can I get the array being pass up to the global?

Thank you.

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 24 '13 at 04:32

4

You need to pass is as a reference &

Try doing this:

function myFunc(&$myArray){
    //perform some other tasks
    $myArray['name']='John';
}

You could also return it as such:

$myArray = array();
$myArray = myfunc($myArray);
var_dump($myArray);

function myfunc($myArray){
    //perform some other tasks
    $myArray['name']='John';
    return $myArray;
}

answered Nov 24 '13 at 04:32

brenjt

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1

Why not `return` instead? – zerkms Nov 24 '13 at 04:33
Yeah, that is another way to do it. – brenjt Nov 24 '13 at 04:34
You can learn about references [here](http://php.net/manual/en/language.references.pass.php) – brenjt Nov 24 '13 at 04:37
1

& is reference operator, with it you are not only passing the Copy of the array's values, but the reference to the array itself. – Choerun Asnawi Nov 24 '13 at 04:38

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 24 '13 at 05:37

brenjt answer is probably the best, however the OP asked how to access the global variable. You could access the $myArray globally using the global keyword, but you wouldn't pass that array into the function.

$myArray = array();
myfunc($myArray);
var_dump($myArray);

function myfunc(){
    global $myArray; 

    //perform some other tasks
    $myArray['name']='John';
}

This would NOT be the best method for accessing the array. You should use the example by brenjt, but I wanted to show that this is also possible.

PHP passing array variable from function

2 Answers2