Accessing php variables outside of a method in a function - php

Question

I'm not understanding why this is not working?
I am working in php and specifically laravel.
When I run it I get an undefined variable exception.
I would think I would get the array of bad_rows?
Also on a side question, how could I refactor this to be cleaner? Should I extract the Excel method to its own function?
I basically am trying to import the list, add it to the database and then I will redirect to the main page with the list of rows that were not imported by flashing it.
Thanks!
public function subscriberImportList(Request $request)
{
\Excel::filter('chunk')->load($request->file('import_list'))->chunk(100, function($rows) use($request)
{
$bad_rows = [];
foreach($rows as $row)
{
if (is_null($row->name) || is_null($row->street_address) || is_null($row->city)){
array_push($bad_rows, $row->name);
}
else {
//New Subscriber Instance
$subscriber = new Subscriber;
//Set the name
$subscriber->name = $row->name;
//Set the street address
$subscriber->street_address = $row->street_address;
//Set the city,state zip
preg_match('/([^,]+),\s*(\w{2})\s*(\d{5}(?:-\d{4})?)/', $row->city, $city_state_zip_seperated);
if (!$city_state_zip_seperated) {
array_push($bad_rows, $row->name);
}
else {
$subscriber->city = $city_state_zip_seperated[1];
$subscriber->state = $city_state_zip_seperated[2];
$subscriber->zipcode = $city_state_zip_seperated[3];
//Persist the subscriber to the database
$subscriber->save();
}
}
}
return $bad_rows;
});
dd($bad_rows);
}

Answer 1

You have:
public function subscriberImportList(Request $request) {
\Excel::[..snip..], function($rows) use($request) {
$bad_rows = [];
^^^^^^^^^^------defined here
blah blah blah
});
dd($bad_rows);
^^^^^^^^---used here
}
$bad_rows is only ever defined INSIDE that function($rows) closure, which means it's a local variable inside the closure, and exists nowhere else. So when you try dd($bad_rows), you are using an undefined variable.
What you should have is
public function .... {
$bad_rows = [];
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
\Exce..... function($row) use($request, $bad_rows) {
^^^^^^^^^^^^
blah blah blah
});
dd($bad_rows);
}