Print specific array key

Question

I need to use a key from an array for a check.

The array comes from a PDO query like this

function getProject($proj_id) {
    $database = new Database();
    $database->query( "SELECT * FROM projects WHERE proj_id = '$proj_id' LIMIT 1" );
    $project = $database->resultSet();
    return $project;
}

Then I print the array which works like it should.

$project = getProject(1);
print_r($project);

Array ( [0] => Array ( [proj_id] => 73 [proj_name] => Cake )

But when I try to print a specific key from the array like this:

print_r($project['proj_name'];

Nothing gets printed on the screen. Why not?

dave · Accepted Answer · 2014-12-23 17:54:43Z

6

You have two arrays:

Array ( [0] => Array ( [proj_id] => 73 [proj_name] => Cake )
  ^--this one    ^--and this one

You need to do:

print_r($project[0]['proj_name']);

Probably the ideal situation would actually be to change it here:

function getProject($proj_id) {
  $database = new Database();
  $database->query( "SELECT * FROM projects WHERE proj_id = '$proj_id' LIMIT 1" );
  $project = $database->resultSet();
  return $project[0]; //<---added the [0] this line 
}

since you know it will always return one

answered Dec 23, 2014 at 17:54

dave

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2 Comments

Rob Michiels Over a year ago

But where does that second array come from?

Michael Berkowski Over a year ago

Your resultSet() function (which is not standard) probably calls PDO's fetchAll(), which always returns a 2D array, even for single rows.

grin · Accepted Answer · 2014-12-23 17:55:23Z

1

If you look carefully, you'll see that you have two arrays nested one inside the other. Try print_r($project[0]['proj_name'];

answered Dec 23, 2014 at 17:55

grin

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Comments

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 12:05:56Z

1

You're missing a close-paren ) at the end of your print_r call.

You're seeing nothing on the screen because this means the file cannot be parsed, and errors are being logged to a file rather than displayed on screen. See How do I get PHP errors to display? for how to fix that.

edited May 23, 2017 at 12:05

CommunityBot

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answered Dec 23, 2014 at 17:56

dimo414

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4 Comments

dave Over a year ago

While technically correct, that seems like it's just a copy-paste error, and not the actual issue.

Tiago Over a year ago

you are right, but even with the close-paren ')' it wouldn't do what he wanted to do.

dimo414 Over a year ago

It would explain the "Nothing gets printed on the screen." If the problem is simply that OP isn't passing the right value to print_r(), something would print.

Tiago Over a year ago

i think it would only show a warning if you have them enabled. Otherwise it just stays blank. At least i tried it at writecodeonline and it shows nothing.

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