How to name an array after content from a string [closed] - php

Question

Closed. This question needs details or clarity. It is not currently accepting answers.
Want to improve this question? Add details and clarify the problem by editing this post.
Closed 5 years ago.
Improve this question
I've a form tag which sends the name for an array to a function but how can I name my array after this? Ok, code says more than thousand words:
<?php
function dynamic($id, $name, ... ){
...
echo "<select id='$id' name='$name' size='...' multiple>";
...
echo "<select id='$id' name='$name'>";
...
}
?>
<form ... method="post">
<p>
<?php
echo dynamic("dynamic1", "choice1", ...);
?>
</p>
<p>
<?php
echo dynamic("dynamic2", "choice2", ...);
?>
</p>
<p>
<?php
echo dynamic("dynamic3", "choice3", ...);
?>
</p>
<input type="submit" value="send"/>
</form>
I want to create a list where you can select multiple items but for this $name needs ot be an array. The array should named like the second variable. In one case it should be named choice1 in another choice2
Like how do I get from $name = "choice1"; to choice1[]
#edit Added a new line in function to show my problem. somtimes $name needs to be and array and sometimes not
Any ideas?

Answer 1

You are looking to use dynamic variable names, which is possible in PHP, but you need to be careful with this. Production code using this can be difficult to maintain and throw errors quite easily.
Anyway, lets say you have a value in the form $_POST that you want to use as a variable name. You would do so like this.
$id = "gettheidsomewhere";
${$id}[] = "whatever";
Like i said, use this carefully. Dynamic variable names are dangerous and very hard to debug when things break.
If you do not know the value used for $id, then you will need to loop through your post variables and assign them accordingly. I would assume you want to add some extra logic, but here is a basic example.
Using a key value loop you can obtain the name of the post variable, stored as $key and the value. So for $_POST["something"] = "test", when this line is looped over, $key will be "something" and $value will be "test".
foreach ($_POST as $key => $value)
{
${$key}[] = $value;
}