Not able to access $_POST variable in PHP if statement - php

Question

I am passing a hidden variable from HTML to a PHP page. In the PHP page I want to use that variable in my form.
<?php
$newVar=trim($_POST['newVar']);
$subject = "new var is ---> $newVar";
?>
I am not able to use $newVar in any if statement - it shows blank. If I try to echo $subject, it shows the value of $newVar but when I try to echo the value of $subject in any if statement it does not show me the value of $newVar.
My Code is:
html markup is:
New Variable
<form method="post" name="sendVar" action="test.php" style="display:none;">
<input type="hidden" name="newVar" value="">
<input type="submit" value="Send form!">
</form>
php:
<?php
$newVar=trim($_POST['newVar']);
$subject = "new var is ---> $newVar";
?>
if(isset($_POST['submit'])) {
if(!isset($hasError)) {
$from_add = "test#test.com";
$emailTo = 'shruti#example.com';
$headers = "From: $from_add \r\n";
$headers .= "Reply-To: $from_add \r\n";
$headers .= "Return-Path: $from_add\r\n";
$headers .= "X-Mailer: PHP \r\n";
mail($emailTo, $subject, $headers);
// HERE in $subject.. value of newVar is not displaying
$emailSent = true;
}
$from_add = "do-not-reply#example.com";
$headers = "From: $from_add \r\n";
$headers .= "Reply-To: $from_add \r\n";
$headers .= "Return-Path: $from_add\r\n";
$headers .= "X-Mailer: PHP \r\n";
}
?>

Answer 1

You seem to have ended a PHP code section with ?> and not started a new one with <?php - although I shall assume that this is simply a copy/paste error since you are not complaining that you can see your PHP source code in the browser.
The actual problem you have here is that you are checking if $_POST['submit'] is set, but it never will be because you didn't name any of your form controls submit, so none of the code in the if block will ever be executed.
In your HTML, change:
<input type="submit" value="Send form!">
...to:
<input type="submit" name="submit" value="Send form!">
...and it should work.