cant return 2 variables in php by calling return function?

Question

1st i have to say that i am not php professional and this is my 1st time to use return().

so here is the code. i need to return false and the number of minutes left from the function.

if(!checkIpn())
    $err[]='you need to wait'.$nresting.'minutes before you send another request';
function checkIpn()
{
    $useripe = 0;  
 if ( isset($_SERVER["REMOTE_ADDR"]) )    {     $useripe = $_SERVER["REMOTE_ADDR"] ; } 
 else if ( isset($_SERVER["HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR"]) )    {     $useripe =  $_SERVER["HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR"] ; } 
 else if ( isset($_SERVER["HTTP_CLIENT_IP"]) )    {     $useripe =  $_SERVER["HTTP_CLIENT_IP"] ; }


 $query  = "SELECT * FROM table WHERE ip = '$useripe' AND status = 'pending' ORDER BY id ASC"; 
 $result = mysql_query($query) or die(mysql_error());   
 $num_rows = mysql_num_rows($result);  

  if ( $num_rows > 0 ) 
 {  
    $str_today = date("Y-m-d H:i:s"); 
    $i=1; 
    while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) 
        { 
            $str_start = $row['date'];    
            $str_start = strtotime($str_start);  
            $str_end = strtotime($str_today);    
            $nseconds = $str_end - $str_start;   
            $nminutes = round($nseconds / 60);    
                    if ( $nminutes > 120 ) 
                            { return true; } 
                    else    { 
                            $nresting = 120 - $nminutes;
                            return false; }  
            $i++; 
        } 
 } 
 else { return true; }

based on Tadeck answer below.i did it like this:

$result = checkIpn();
if($result[0]==false)
    $err[]='you need to wait '.$result[1].' minutes before you send another request';

thank you Tadeck.

is the time coming from the db Unix timestamp? Could just be a problem with different timestamps. — robx
– robx, Commented May 6, 2011 at 18:43
You have many earlier questions. Please revisit them and accept answers. You'll get more help here if you do so. — Michael Berkowski
– Michael Berkowski, Commented May 6, 2011 at 18:47

Tadeck · Accepted Answer · 2011-05-06 18:53:02Z

4

If you want to return two different variables using single call, you can use something like:

return array(true, 0);

or

return array(true);

in first case (when returning success) and

return array(false, $minutes);

in second case (returning failure).

Then you can check it that way:

$result = checkIpn();

if ($result[0]) {
    echo 'Success.';
} else {
    echo 'Failure. Minutes to wait: '.$result[1];
}

I hope this helps.

EDIT:

If I understand you correctly, you return true or the number of minutes > 0 (larger than zero). Thus you can use such return in case of success:

return true;

and this in case of failure:

return $minutes;

Then you will be able to use it in the code in the following way:

$result = checkIpn();

if ($result === true) {
    echo 'Success';
} else {
    echo 'Failure. Minutes to wait: '.$result;
}

And I would like to advise you to properly document such function, so that no one is surprised when it returns integer instead of boolean ;)

edited May 6, 2011 at 18:53

answered May 6, 2011 at 18:45

Tadeck

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1 Comment

alhoseany Over a year ago

thank you so much i did it like that $result = checkIpn(); if($result[0]==false) $err[]='you need to wait '.$result[1].' minutes before you send another request';

Michael Berkowski · Accepted Answer · 2011-05-06 18:43:51Z

2

You can return an array instead of booleans, which allows you to return more than one value:

return array('success'=>FALSE, 'nminutes'=>$nminutes);

But as an alternative, you can just return NULL if the function is successful and return the number of minutes if not. Then you don't need TRUE/FALSE at all.

if ($nminutes > 120)
{
  return NULL;
}
else
{
  return $nminutes;
}

Check the success like so:

if (checkIpn() !== NULL) // you have minutes left
else // no minutes left - your TRUE case.

answered May 6, 2011 at 18:43

Michael Berkowski

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Comments

Nev Stokes · Accepted Answer · 2011-05-06 18:43:04Z

1

You could return an array containing as many things as you like.

answered May 6, 2011 at 18:43

Nev Stokes

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Comments

Eric Conner · Accepted Answer · 2011-05-06 18:44:31Z

0

In php you can return an array and use the list() function to unpack the values.

function myfn() {
    return array(true, 120);
}
...
list($retval, $minutes) = myfn();

This is generally pretty bad style though and I would recommend finding a way to accomplish what you need with 1 return value.

answered May 6, 2011 at 18:44

Eric Conner

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3 Comments

KingCrunch Over a year ago

An array is exactly one return value and an array with fixed size is call "tupel" ("n-tupel") in other languages, as well as even in math. Dont see any bad style, just the need to document it proper.

Eric Conner Over a year ago

I agree with that and agree with your semantic definition that it is technically one return value, but I don't like the idea of returning an array with a boolean and an integer. It makes the code confusing.

Tadeck Over a year ago

I also think this is correct solution (returning array) and I think in Python it is called list, but seeing this code it is possible to return one value not being a tuple and not being a list / array, but boolean / integer. Just look at my solution.

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