PHP function return a variable? - php

Question

I am having a hard time finding out how to get a function to return a variable that I can use outside of the function, I have tried
return $response
and I have tried
return $response = $anothervariable
But the only way I have been able to get it to work is to echo the response and just put the html in there, I know there is a better way to do this, the problem is I can't figure it out. Any help would be appreciated!
function OpenCNAM($ph) {
$opencnamSID = '*****';
$opencnamTOKEN = '*****';
$query = "https://api.opencnam.com/v2/phone/".$ph."?format=text";
if(isset($opencnamSID)) { $query = "https://".$opencnamSID.":".$opencnamTOKEN."#api.opencnam.com/v2/phone/".$ph."?format=text"; }
$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt ($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $query);
curl_setopt ($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
curl_setopt ($ch, CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT, 2);
curl_setopt ($ch, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 3);
$response = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);
if($response != "") {
echo '<span title="'.$response.'"> 888-452-1505</span>';
} else {
echo 'Nada';
}
}
OpenCNAM('8884521505');

Answer 1

return $response;
is correct statement. It will return $response variable if program flow reaches at that point.
You can also pass parameters to function by reference like &$any_variable to set it with the desire value inside the function and play with it outside the function, after the function call.

Answer 2

Remodify your code like this.
function OpenCNAM($ph) {
$opencnamSID = '*****';
$opencnamTOKEN = '*****';
$query = "https://api.opencnam.com/v2/phone/".$ph."?format=text";
if(isset($opencnamSID)) { $query = "https://".$opencnamSID.":".$opencnamTOKEN."#api.opencnam.com/v2/phone/".$ph."?format=text"; }
$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt ($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $query);
curl_setopt ($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
curl_setopt ($ch, CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT, 2);
curl_setopt ($ch, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 3);
$response = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);
$str="";
if($response != "") {
$str= '<span title="'.$response.'"> 888-452-1505</span>';
} else {
$str= 'Nada';
}
return $str; //<---------- We are returning here
}
echo OpenCNAM('8884521505'); //<--- If you want to output.. or just $response = OpenCNAM('43535'); if you want to store it in a variable.

Answer 3

Just return the texts then you can do like this
function OpenCNAM($ph) {
//...
//...
if($response != "") {
return '<span title="'.$response.'"> 888-452-1505</span>';
} else {
return 'Nada';
}
}
$foo = OpenCNAM('8884521505');
Then, you can do what you want with $foo

Answer 4

try this
function OpenCNAM($ph)
{
$opencnamSID = '*****';
$opencnamTOKEN = '*****';
$query = "https://api.opencnam.com/v2/phone/".$ph."?format=text";
if(isset($opencnamSID)) { $query = "https://".$opencnamSID.":".$opencnamTOKEN."#api.opencnam.com/v2/phone/".$ph."?format=text"; }
$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt ($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $query);
curl_setopt ($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
curl_setopt ($ch, CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT, 2);
curl_setopt ($ch, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 3);
$response = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);
if($response != "")
{
$res = '<span title="'.$response.'"> 888-452-1505</span>';
}
else
{
$res = 'Nada';
}
return $res;
}
$return_res = OpenCNAM('8884521505');
echo $return_res;

Answer 5

If you aren't going to use the returned data anywhere, then echo will do just fine for you.
This was answered in PHP echo function return value vs echo inside function