PHP strings concatenation - php

Question

My code cycles through a CSV file, converting it to XML:
<?php
for ($i = 1; $i < $arraySize; $i++) {
$n = 0;
if (substr($csv[$i][0], 0, 1) == $let) {
$surName = $dom->createElement('name');
$name = $csv[$i][0];
$nameText = $dom->createTextNode($name);
$surName->appendChild($nameText);
$text = str_replace(chr(94), ",", $csv[$i][4]);
$n = $i + 1;
$next = $csv[$n][0];
while ($next == 'NULL') {
$repl = str_replace(chr(94), ",", $csv[$n][4]);
$text = $repl;
$n++;
$next = $csv[$n][0];
}
$bio = $dom->createElement('bio');
$bioText = $dom->createTextNode($text);
$bio->appendChild($bioText);
$person = $dom->createElement('person');
$person->appendChild($surName);
$person->appendChild($bio);
$people->appendChild($person);
}
}
$xmlString = $dom->saveXML();
echo $xmlString;
?>
The problem is the $text = $repl; Typing $text .= $repl; brings:
error on line 1 at column 1: Document is empty.
but omitting the . just gives the last line of text.
the backup code works:
public function test($let){
$csv = $this->readCSV("data\AlphaIndex1M.csv");
$arraySize=sizeof($csv);
$let = strtoupper($let);
//echo '';
for($i=1; $i
echo $csv[$i][0];// .'
echo ', -->'.$csv[$i][4];
$n = $i+1;
$next = $csv[$n][0];
//if($next == 'NULL'){ }
while($next == 'NULL'){
echo $csv[$n][4]. " ";
$n++;
$next=$csv[$n][0];
}
//echo ''
echo '';
}
}
//echo ''
}

Answer 1

You have to initialize your $text before you can append stuff!
So write this before you use it:
$test = "";
(before the while loop or even before the for loop if you want all to be appended)