How to access elements in an array returned from a function?

You can add array keys to your return values and then use these keys to print the array values, as shown here:

function data() {
    $out['a'] = "abc";
    $out['b'] = "def";
    $out['c'] = "ghi";
    return $out;
}

$data = data();
echo $data['a'];
echo $data['b'];
echo $data['c'];

you can do this:

list($a, $b, $c) = data();

print "$a $b $c"; // "abc def ghi"

function give_array(){

    $a = "abc";
    $b = "def";
    $c = "ghi";

    return compact('a','b','c');
}


$my_array = give_array();

http://php.net/manual/en/function.compact.php

The data function is returning an array, so you can access the result of the function in the same way as you would normally access elements of an array:

<?php
...
$result = data();

$a = $result[0];
$b = $result[1];
$c = $result[2];

Or you could use the list() function, as @fredrik recommends, to do the same thing in a line.

From PHP 5.4 you can take advantage of array dereferencing and do something like this:

<?

function data()
{
    $retr_arr["a"] = "abc";
    $retr_arr["b"] = "def";
    $retr_arr["c"] = "ghi";

    return $retr_arr;
}

$a = data()["a"];    //$a = "abc"
$b = data()["b"];    //$b = "def"
$c = data()["c"];    //$c = "ghi"
?>

$array  = data();

print_r($array);

<?php
function demo($val,$val1){
    return $arr=array("value"=>$val,"value1"=>$val1);

}
$arr_rec=demo(25,30);
echo $arr_rec["value"];
echo $arr_rec["value1"];
?>

Maybe this is what you searched for :

function data() {
    // your code
    return $array; 
}
$var = data(); 
foreach($var as $value) {
    echo $value; 
}

In order to get the values of each variable, you need to treat the function as you would an array:

function data() {
    $a = "abc";
    $b = "def";
    $c = "ghi";
    return array($a, $b, $c);
}

// Assign a variable to the array; 
// I selected $dataArray (could be any name).
  
$dataArray = data();
list($a, $b, $c) = $dataArray;
echo $a . " ". $b . " " . $c;

//if you just need 1 variable out of 3;
list(, $b, ) = $dataArray;
echo $b;

//Important not to forget the commas in the list(, $b,).

All of the above seems to be outdated since PHP 7.1., as @leninzprahy mentioned in a comment.

If you are looking for a simple way to access values returned in an array like you would in python, this is the syntax to use:

[$a, $b, $c] = data();

here is the best way in a similar function

 function cart_stats($cart_id){

$sql = "select sum(price) sum_bids, count(*) total_bids from carts_bids where cart_id = '$cart_id'";
$rs = mysql_query($sql);
$row = mysql_fetch_object($rs);
$total_bids = $row->total_bids;
$sum_bids = $row->sum_bids;
$avarage = $sum_bids/$total_bids;

 $array["total_bids"] = "$total_bids";
 $array["avarage"] = " $avarage";

 return $array;
}  

and you get the array data like this

$data = cart_stats($_GET['id']); 
<?=$data['total_bids']?>

I think the best way to do it is to create a global var array. Then do whatever you want to it inside the function data by passing it as a reference. No need to return anything too.

$array = array("white", "black", "yellow");
echo $array[0]; //this echo white
data($array);

function data(&$passArray){ //<<notice &
    $passArray[0] = "orange"; 
}
echo $array[0]; //this now echo orange

This is what I did inside the yii framewok:

public function servicesQuery($section){
        $data = Yii::app()->db->createCommand()
                ->select('*')
                ->from('services')
                ->where("section='$section'")
                ->queryAll();   
        return $data;
    }

then inside my view file:

      <?php $consultation = $this->servicesQuery("consultation"); ?> ?>
      <?php foreach($consultation as $consul): ?>
             <span class="text-1"><?php echo $consul['content']; ?></span>
       <?php endforeach;?>

What I am doing grabbing a cretin part of the table i have selected. should work for just php minus the "Yii" way for the db

The underlying problem revolves around accessing the data within the array, as Felix Kling points out in the first response.

In the following code, I've accessed the values of the array with the print and echo constructs.

function data()
{

    $a = "abc";
    $b = "def";
    $c = "ghi";

    $array = array($a, $b, $c);

    print_r($array);//outputs the key/value pair

    echo "<br>";

    echo $array[0].$array[1].$array[2];//outputs a concatenation of the values

}

data();

I was looking for an easier method than i'm using but it isn't answered in this post. However, my method works and i don't use any of the aforementioned methods:

function MyFunction() {
  $lookyHere = array(
    'value1' => array('valuehere'),
    'entry2' => array('valuehere')
  );
  return $lookyHere;
}

I have no problems with my function. I read the data in a loop to display my associated data. I have no idea why anyone would suggest the above methods. If you are looking to store multiple arrays in one file but not have all of them loaded, then use my function method above. Otherwise, all of the arrays will load on the page, thus, slowing down your site. I came up with this code to store all of my arrays in one file and use individual arrays when needed.

Note that the question is only about getting values from an array, not updating (assigning) values in an array returned by a function. If you assign values into such an array, they go into a local copy of the array, and the original is unchanged. This is a separate problem not addressed here.

The solution is to use the reference operator & twice: once in the function and once in any assignment of its result.

Example:

function &return_array()
   {
   $arr=['a'=>'A'];
   return $arr; // Only a variable can be returned
   }
$arr2=&return_array();
$arr2['a']='B';
// $arr and $arr2 are both now ['a'=>'B'];

Your function is:

function data(){

$a = "abc";
$b = "def";
$c = "ghi";

return array($a, $b, $c);
}

It returns an array where position 0 is $a, position 1 is $b and position 2 is $c. You can therefore access $a by doing just this:

data()[0]

If you do $myvar = data()[0] and print $myvar, you will get "abc", which was the value assigned to $a inside the function.