PHP string to contain and output another PHP variable

Question

In my PHP application I am displaying embedded videos from various sources - youtube, vimeo etc.

In my articles table I store the id of my embed videos:

Article.video_url = 'e5dkjwkdek'

Then in my video_providers table I store the embed code, but I want to dynamically add the video_url, so I store:

VideoProviders.embedcode = "https://www.youtube.com/embed/$article->video_url"

I then output the 'embedcode' variable in my template and I want to append the $article->video_url which is the unique id of the video.

It seems I need a variable within the variable, I tried:

VideoProviders.embedcode = "https://www.youtube.com/embed/{$article->video_url}"

and

VideoProviders.embedcode = "https://www.youtube.com/embed/$$article->video_url"

But it seems these are simply treated as literal strings. If anyone has any better suggestions as to how to achieve this I am all ears. In short I want the mark-up stored in one place so that is can be edited should the embed code of the provider change.

Where does this code exist? Why does it look like you're mixing js and php? — Devon Bessemer
– Devon Bessemer, Commented Aug 29, 2018 at 23:47
the left side is supposed to represent the table and its field, so "embedcode" is the field of the VideoProviders table — Alan A
– Alan A, Commented Aug 29, 2018 at 23:52
So you're storing a literal $article in your database and you want it evaluated when you echo that string? — Devon Bessemer
– Devon Bessemer, Commented Aug 29, 2018 at 23:54

Phil · Accepted Answer · 2018-08-30 00:17:14Z

2

You cannot store strings with PHP interpolation symbols. Double-quoted strings are interpolated at runtime.

I'd say you have three options...

Store the various parts in your database and construct them in your query. For example (assuming MySQL)
```
SELECT
  CONCAT(VideoProviders.embed_prefix, Article.video_url) AS embedcode,
  -- etc
```
with VideoProviders.embed_prefix containing 'https://www.youtube.com/embed/', 'https://player.vimeo.com/video/', etc
Store the URL with placeholders for the video id and (again assuming MySQL) use the REPLACE function. For example
```
VideoProviders.embedcode = 'https://www.youtube.com/embed/{VIDEO_ID}'
```
and
```
SELECT
  REPLACE(VideoProviders.embedcode, '{VIDEO_ID}', Article.video_url) AS embedcode,
  -- etc
```
This would be the preferred solution if the video id doesn't always appear at the end of the URL.
Store a printf style pattern in embedcode, eg 'https://www.youtube.com/embed/%s' and put it together with PHP, eg
```
$embedcode = sprintf($row['embedcode'], $row['video_url');
```

edited Aug 30, 2018 at 0:17

answered Aug 30, 2018 at 0:00

Phil

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2 Comments

Alan A Over a year ago

the 3rd suggestion does exactly what I need - sprintf

Phil Over a year ago

That's sort of odd. It's really no different to option #2

Rolfie · Accepted Answer · 2018-08-29 23:58:54Z

0

I think you can just do this:

$video_id = 'e5dkjwkdek';
$provider_url = 'https://www.youtube.com/embed/';

$embed_code = $provider_url . $video_id;

Or something similar to this. You can fill the video_id and provider_url anyway you like. From a database or from some other source. This way should always work.

answered Aug 29, 2018 at 23:58

Rolfie

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1 Comment

Alan A Over a year ago

this would have worked but there are more parts to the mark-up which would have meant breaking the embed code up into the before and after sections which I think could get messy

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