inside of a function i have a $connection var what obviously stores my connection to mysql, how can i call that var from inside other functions to save me having to paste the $connection var inside of every function that requires this var?
i have tried global to no avail.
many thanks
You could use the old global keyword.
function a() {
global $connection;
}
Or you could throw it in $GLOBALS (this will help you get it out of the function defined it in).
Neither of them are too pretty.
Or you could pass in the $connection as an argument.
The most common way of dealing with a database connection is to have its creation handled by a singleton pattern, or have a base class with OO that has a $this->db available, that all your other classes can inherit from.
Pass the connection as a parameter to the functions that need it. It keeps your code clean and re-usable.
Another solution would be to use a class and make the connection a class variable. You will just use $this->connection every time you need this, but this is not really a solution if you already have a lot of code written in a lot of files.
Declare the variable outside the function, then make it accessible inside each function you need it by using the global keyword.
$globalName = "Zoe";
function sayHello() {
$localName = "Harry";
echo "Hello, $localName!";
global $globalName;
echo "Hello, $globalName!";
}
sayHello();
stolen from http://www.elated.com/articles/php-variable-scope-all-you-need-to-know/
