PHP and Array_round spiteful function - php

Question

I'm trying to create a function to pick up words from a text file randomly, and no one here poblema. The problem arises when I try to verify if the user correctly inserts the words. Unfortunately, I always get a negative answer. From what I understood when called, the function can not save the contents into the variable that naturally remains empty.
<?php
function random_word() {
$dictionary = "dictionary.txt";
$word = file($dictionary);
$n = 0;
while ($n < 2) {
$n++;
$randomword = array_rand($word);
echo $word[$randomword];
}
}
$a = random_word();
echo "-----------------";
echo $a;
?>
If I try to check the $a variable it tells me that it is NULL. I'm sure the problem is the function but I know PHP shortly and I'm struggling to find the error.

Answer 1

You need to return something. Not sure if you want to return a string or an array but your code seems to be made for string.
<?php
function random_word() {
$dictionary = "dictionary.txt";
$word = file($dictionary);
$n = 0;
while ($n < 2) {
$n++;
$randomword = array_rand($word);
$returner .= $word[$randomword] . " ";
}
return trim($returner);
}
$a = random_word();
echo "-----------------";
echo $a;
?>