Echoing out a variable variables list - php

Question

I need to create a string like ‘Acme’, ‘Umbrella’, ‘Waymart’ for use in a java function. So far, I have:
$info0 = "SELECT DISTINCT Company FROM CETracker";
$rs0=odbc_exec($conn1,$info0);
$count = 1;
while($row = odbc_fetch_array($rs0))
{
${'V'.$count++} = "" . $row['Company'] . "";
}
$categories = "'$V1', '$V2', '$V3'";
echo $categories;
I then have $categories echo in the place the function needs the company list. This work as long as there are just 3 companies. But when more are added, I’ll have to add ‘$V4’, ‘$V5’ and so on. Any ideas? Thanks.

Answer 1

Use arrays instead of variable variables, you can then implode the results:
$info0 = "SELECT DISTINCT Company FROM CETracker";
$rs0 = odbc_exec($conn1,$info0);
$companies = array();
while($row = odbc_fetch_array($rs0)) {
$companies[] = "'" . $row['Company'] . "'";
}
$categories = implode(', ', $companies);
echo $categories;
... if you would like to continue with variable variables, use a loop to create your string:
$info0 = "SELECT DISTINCT Company FROM CETracker";
$rs0=odbc_exec($conn1,$info0);
$count = 1;
while($row = odbc_fetch_array($rs0)) {
${'V'.$count++} = "" . $row['Company'] . "";
}
$categories = '';
for($x = 1; $x <= $count; $x++) {
if($x > 1) $categories .= ', '; // add the comma
$categories .= "'" . ${'V'.$x} . "'"; // add the variable variable
}
echo $categories;

Answer 2

Please try this:
$info0 = "SELECT DISTINCT Company FROM CETracker";
$rs0=odbc_exec($conn1,$info0);
$count = 1;
$str = '';
while($row = odbc_fetch_array($rs0))
{
$str .= "'".$row['Company']."',";
}
$str = substr($str,0,strlen($str)-1);
echo $str;