how can i get a php variable outside a while loop which is in a function

Question

function getTowns($conn)
{
    $sql = "SELECT towns.name, towns.id, regions.name AS region_name FROM towns INNER JOIN regions ON towns.region_id = regions.id ORDER BY name ASC";
    $result = $conn->query($sql);
    $town_opt = ''; //stands for town option

    town_opt .= "<datalist id='townlist'>";
    while ($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) {
        $town_id = $row['id'];
        $town_opt .= "<option>" . $row['name'] . ", " . $row['region_name'] .  "</option>";
    }

    $town_opt .= "</datalist>";
    return $town_opt;
};

echo $town_id;
echo getTowns($conn);
//how can I echo every town id?

This is the best I could think of, and yet it doesn't work. I tried setting a cookie but it still wasn't working the way I wanted.

ezw · Accepted Answer · 2018-02-20 19:39:07Z

1

function getTowns($conn)
{
    $sql = "SELECT towns.name, towns.id, regions.name AS region_name FROM towns INNER JOIN regions ON towns.region_id = regions.id ORDER BY name ASC";
    $result = $conn->query($sql);
    $town_opt = ''; //stands for town option

    // We first set the town_id placeholder
    $town_id = array();


    town_opt .= "<datalist id='townlist'>";
    while ($row = $result->fetch_assoc())
    {
        // We add the ID into our array
        $town_id[] = $row['id'];

        $town_opt .= "<option>" . $row['name'] . ", " . $row['region_name'] .  "</option>";
    }
    $town_opt .= "</datalist>";

    // We return an array
    return array($town_opt, $town_id);

    /* Or you could use this
    return array('town_opt' => $town_opt, 'town_id' => $town_id);

    And then use them like so:

        $towns = getTowns($conn);

        // $town_opt
        echo $towns['town_opt'];

        // $town_id
        print_r($towns['town_id]);

    */
};

$towns = getTowns($conn);

// $town_opt
echo $towns[0];

// $town_id
print_r($towns[1]);

return an array with the first value being one value you want and the second as the other

answered Feb 20, 2018 at 19:39

ezw

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2 Comments

monkata123 Over a year ago

it gives me this error message:Notice: Array to string conversion in C:\xampp\htdocs\Snatchy\book.php on line 67 Array //// line 67 is // $town_id echo $towns[1];

ezw Over a year ago

Check the solution, it should be print_r($towns[1])

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