String and variable to output variable

Question

My intention is to output $car1, $car2 to have a list in the HTML output e.g Toyota, BMW, ...However i am getting $car2 in the HTML output. How does one make the loop output $car1, $car2... Is there another function other than echo to do this?

for ($i = 1; $i <= 10; $i++) {
    echo $car . $i;
    echo "<br>";
}

echo is not a function, and you mean <br />.

Lightness Races in Orbit
– Lightness Races in Orbit

2011-06-13 14:28:21 +00:00
Commented Jun 13, 2011 at 14:28 — Lightness Races in Orbit
– Lightness Races in Orbit, Commented Jun 13, 2011 at 14:28

Lightness Races in Orbit · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-13 14:29:34Z

1

You're looking for variable variables:

for ($i = 1; $i <= 10; $i++) {
   $varName = "car" . $i;
   echo $$varName . "<br />";
}

or, for short:

for ($i = 1; $i <= 10; $i++) {
   echo ${'car' . $i} . "<br />";
}

You'd be better off with arrays, though.

answered Jun 13, 2011 at 14:29

Lightness Races in Orbit

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2 Comments

Lightness Races in Orbit Over a year ago

@BenMatewe: No worries. Don't forget to check out arrays.

Ben Matewe Over a year ago

Thanks. They certainly are very powerful and have shrinked my code dramatically.

Lukas Knuth · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-13 14:31:54Z

0

I'm guessing:

You have a bunch of variables called:

$car1
$car2
$car3
$car4
...

And now you want to output them using this:

echo $car . $i;

So you want the code the generate $car1 for you?

~~This won't work.~~ You shouldn't do this. You should use an array to save your cars. This can be looped over using a for or foreach-loop.

answered Jun 13, 2011 at 14:31

Lukas Knuth

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2 Comments

Lightness Races in Orbit Over a year ago

It can work. It's not the nicest approach, but "this won't work" is incorrect.

Lukas Knuth Over a year ago

Oh. I had to test it myself until I believed it, but you're right. Anyways, arrays are the thing to use here.

ngen · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-13 14:38:43Z

0

As Tomalak mentioned, arrays should be used in this case.

$car[] = "Honda";
$car[] = "Toyota";
$car[] = "Dodge";
$car[] = "Ford";

for($i = 0; $i<=3; $i++){
  echo $car[$i];
  echo "<br>";
}

Output:

Honda
Toyota
Dodge
Ford

answered Jun 13, 2011 at 14:38

ngen

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1 Comment

Ben Matewe Over a year ago

Thanks for the input. Point on arrays noted.

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