Return in a function while in loop

Question

I have a function, which checks a query, and then uses a while loop to extract data, I would like to return this data but I still want it to increment, but I read that return terminates a function, and thus would make it unable to increment. Is there a way around this?

$this->messages = array();
while($row = $data) {
                $this->messages[$i]['id'] = $row['id'];
                $this->messages[$i]['title'] = $row['title'];
                $this->messages[$i]['message'] = $row['message'];
                $i++;

This loop is inside the function, I want to continue until the loop is done, but then I can't return any values.. is there a work around this?

Thank you

EDIT:

<?php

function Message($username){

            $query = "SELECT * FROM msg WHERE `to` = '".$this->userid."' && `to_viewed` = '0' && `to_deleted` = '0' ORDER BY `created` DESC";   
            $stmt = $this->connection->prepare($query);
            $stmt->execute();

    $data = $stmt->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);
    $num_rows = $stmt->fetchColumn();

        if($num_rows) {
            $i=0;
            $this->messages = array();
            while($row = $data) {
// want to return these 3 for each result
                $this->messages[$i]['id'] = $row['id'];
                $this->messages[$i]['title'] = $row['title'];
                $this->messages[$i]['message'] = $row['message'];

                $i++;
            }
        } else {
            return 1; 
        }
    }

?>

There are plenty of ways to return data after completing a loop but you're not being terribly clear about your goals here: can you clarify what you mean by 'I still want it to increment', or give some more of the code surrounding your function? And which values you want to return? — davidf2281
– davidf2281, Commented Aug 18, 2013 at 1:40
@user2693086 Could possibly a temp variable work? Save the data from the loop in a new variable and then increment that later. — Joban
– Joban, Commented Aug 18, 2013 at 1:44
@davidf2281 I added it into my original post. Basically, I want the loop to continue but I want to be able to return each result from the query. — user2693086
– user2693086, Commented Aug 18, 2013 at 1:46
You'll need to declare a new temporary results array before the loop; populate the array during the loop with each result; and then return the results array when the loop has finished. — davidf2281
– davidf2281, Commented Aug 18, 2013 at 1:51

Barmar · Accepted Answer · 2013-08-18 02:20:46Z

4

Use PDO::fetchAll(), it returns an array of all the results, rather than returning one row at a time:

function Message($username){

    $query = "SELECT * FROM msg WHERE `to` = '".$this->userid."' && `to_viewed` = '0' && `to_deleted` = '0' ORDER BY `created` DESC";   
    $stmt = $this->connection->prepare($query);
    $stmt->execute();
    $this->messages = $stmt->fetchAll(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);
    return $this->messages;
}

But to teach you about loops (a CS 101 concept -- what ever happened to people learning how to program?), here's how you would code it yourself:

    $stmt->execute();
    $this->messages = array();
    while ($row = $stmt->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC));
        $this->messages[] = $row;
    }
    return $this->messages;

edited Aug 18, 2013 at 2:20

answered Aug 18, 2013 at 1:58

Barmar

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1 Comment

vee Over a year ago

suggested edit: while ($row = $stmt->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC)){ not while ($row = $stmt->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);

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