If variable not empty display variable without repeating variable name

Question

Hello there do you know a way for writing this in PHP without repeating the variable name?

if($abcdefg["blaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBla"]!=="") {
    echo $abcdefg["blaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBla"];
} else if($abcdefg["evenMoreBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBla"]!=="") {
    echo $abcdefg["evenMoreBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBla"];
} else if($abcdefg["stillAlotBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBla"]!=="") {
    echo $abcdefg["stillAlotBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBla"];
}

Of course you can write

$a = $abcdefg["blaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBla"];
$b = $abcdefg["evenMoreBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBla"];
$c = $abcdefg["stillAlotBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBla"];

if($a) { echo $a; } else if($b) { echo $b; } else if ($c) { echo $c; }

This is a bit shorter but I still wonder if there is some syntactical nice thing to write it without variable repetition.

Ternary operator does not solve the problem because of the "elseif" I think.

either spell it out in full, or copy/reference to another variable and use that. there are no "shortcuts". that or just don't use insanely long variable/key names... — Marc B, Jun 30 '15 at 18:04
possible duplicate of [Check if variable is set and then echo it without repeating?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/15970220/check-if-variable-is-set-and-then-echo-it-without-repeating) — Jocke Med Kniven, Jun 30 '15 at 18:07
The problem with ternary is the "elseif" i guess? However i like the answers of bitworking and rizier123 both solutions are nice. — Blackbam, Jun 30 '15 at 18:10
Hmm I like the concept of the complex ternary but after a short check I cant see how it solves the core of the problem yet? — Blackbam, Jun 30 '15 at 18:18

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 30 '15 at 18:05

This should work for you:

Just loop through all indexes, which you want to check and print them if they pass the if statement, e.g.

$indexes = ["blaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBla", "evenMoreBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBla", "stillAlotBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBla"];

foreach($indexes as $key) {
    if($abcdefg[$key] !== "") {
        echo $abcdefg[$key];
        break;
    }
}

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 30 '15 at 18:06

1

You can do a variable declaration in the if condition:

if(($var = $abcdefg["blaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBla"]) !== "") {
    echo $var;
}

answered Jun 30 '15 at 18:06

bitWorking

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score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 30 '15 at 18:29

What about declaring a function for the ... hmmm ... functionnality?

function echoNotEmpty($s)
{
    if ($s !== '') echo $s;
}
echoNotEmpty($abcdefg["blaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBla"]);
echoNotEmpty($abcdefg["evenMoreBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBla"]);
echoNotEmpty($abcdefg["stillAlotBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBla"]);

Or even shorter:

echo $abcdefg["blaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBla"];
echo $abcdefg["evenMoreBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBla"];
echo $abcdefg["stillAlotBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBlaBla"];

I mean, if you don't want to echo empty string and you still echo them, who cares?

The problem is the "elseif" (there are maybe two strings which are not empty, and only the first should be echoed). — Blackbam, Jun 30 '15 at 18:34

If variable not empty display variable without repeating variable name

3 Answers3