Chapter 3. Variables

Table of Contents

Basics

Variables in PHP are represented by a dollar sign followed by the name of the variable. The variable name is case-sensitive.

Variable names follow the same rules as other labels in PHP. A valid variable name starts with a letter or underscore, followed by any number of letters, numbers, or underscores. As a regular expression, it would be expressed thus: '[a-zA-Z_\x7f-\xff][a-zA-Z0-9_\x7f-\xff]*'

Note:

For our purposes here, a letter is a-z, A-Z, and the ASCII characters from 127 through 255 (0x7f-0xff).

Tip:

You may also want to take a look at the Appendix T, Userland Naming Guide.

For information on variable related functions, see the Variable Functions Reference.

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<?php

$var = 'Bob';
$Var = 'Joe';

echo "$var, $Var";      // outputs "Bob, Joe"

$4site = 'not yet';     // invalid; starts with a number
$_4site = 'not yet';    // valid; starts with an underscore
$täyte = 'mansikka';    // valid; 'ä' is (Extended) ASCII 228.
?>

In PHP 3, variables are always assigned by value. That is to say, when you assign an expression to a variable, the entire value of the original expression is copied into the destination variable. This means, for instance, that after assigning one variable's value to another, changing one of those variables will have no effect on the other. For more information on this kind of assignment, see the chapter on Expressions.

As of PHP 4, PHP offers another way to assign values to variables: assign by reference. This means that the new variable simply references (in other words, "becomes an alias for" or "points to") the original variable. Changes to the new variable affect the original, and vice versa.

To assign by reference, simply prepend an ampersand (&) to the beginning of the variable which is being assigned (the source variable). For instance, the following code snippet outputs 'My name is Bob' twice:

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<?php

$foo = 'Bob';              // Assign the value 'Bob' to $foo
$bar = &$foo;              // Reference $foo via $bar.
$bar = "My name is $bar";  // Alter $bar...
echo $bar;

echo $foo;                 // $foo is altered too.
?>

One important thing to note is that only named variables may be assigned by reference.

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<?php

$foo = 25;
$bar = &$foo;      // This is a valid assignment.
$bar = &(24 * 7);  // Invalid; references an unnamed expression.

function test()

{

   return 25;

}

$bar = &test();    // Invalid.
?>

It is not necessary to initialize variables in PHP however it is a very good practice. Uninitialized variables have a default value of their type - FALSE, zero, empty string or an empty array.

Example 3.1. Default values of uninitialized variables

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<?php
echo ($unset_bool ? "true" : "false"); // false
$unset_int += 25; // 0 + 25 => 25
echo $unset_string . "abc"; // "" . "abc" => "abc"
$unset_array[3] = "def"; // array() + array(3 => "def") => array(3 => "def")
?>

Relying on the default value of an uninitialized variable is problematic in the case of including one file into another which uses the same variable name. It is also a major security risk with register_globals turned on. E_NOTICE level error is issued in case of working with uninitialized variables, however not in the case of appending elements to the uninitialized array. isset() language construct can be used to detect if a variable has been already initialized.

Here's a function to get the name of a given variable. Explanation and examples below. <?php function vname(&$var, $scope=false, $prefix='unique', $suffix='value') { if($scope) $vals = $scope; else $vals = $GLOBALS; $old = $var; $var = $new = $prefix.rand().$suffix; $vname = FALSE; foreach($vals as $key => $val) { if($val === $new) $vname = $key; } $var = $old; return $vname; } ?> Explanation: The problem with figuring out what value is what key in that variables scope is that several variables might have the same value. To remedy this, the variable is passed by reference and its value is then modified to a random value to make sure there will be a unique match. Then we loop through the scope the variable is contained in and when there is a match of our modified value, we can grab the correct key. Examples: 1. Use of a variable contained in the global scope (default): <?php $my_global_variable = "My global string."; echo vname($my_global_variable); // Outputs: my_global_variable ?> 2. Use of a local variable: <?php function my_local_func() { $my_local_variable = "My local string."; return vname($my_local_variable, get_defined_vars()); } echo my_local_func(); // Outputs: my_local_variable ?> 3. Use of an object property: <?php class myclass { public function __constructor() { $this->my_object_property = "My object property string."; } } $obj = new myclass; echo vname($obj->my_object_property, $obj); // Outputs: my_object_property ?>

Chapter 3. Variables

Basics

Example 3.1. Default values of uninitialized variables

Related Examples ( Source code ) » language.variables

Code Examples / Notes » language.variables

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