Correct way of php concatenation - php

Question

Hey is this the correct way to do concatenation? it does not seem to want to work for me!.
$driver1points = 0;
$driver2points = 0;
$driver3points = 0;
$driver4points = 0;
for($i = 1; $i <= 4; $++){
if(${"driver".$i} == $driverrace["fastestlap"]) {
${"driver". $i ."points"} += $driver_points_system["fastestlap"];
$racepoints += $team_points_system["fastestlap"];
break;
}
}

Answer 1

I agree with what is said in the comments. An array is a much better way to handle this.
<?php
$driver1points = 0;
$driver2points = 0;
$driver3points = 0;
$driver4points = 0;
for($i = 1; $i <= 4; $++) {
$driver = "driver$i";
if($$driver == $driverrace["fastestlap"]) {
${$driver."points"} += $driver_points_system["fastestlap"];
$racepoints += $team_points_system["fastestlap"];
break;
}
}
Can be translated into:
<?php
$drivers['bill'] = 0;
$drivers['ted'] = 0;
$drivers['cheech'] = 0;
$drivers['chong'] = 0;
foreach ( $drivers as $driver => &$points ) {
if ( $driver == $race['fastestlap'] ) {
echo "$driver had the fastest lap!";
$points += $driver_points_system['fastestlap'];
$racepoints += $team_points_system['fastestlap'];
break;
}
}
You can obviously do this as a numerative array and replace all of the $drivers[$driverName] assignments to just $drivers[]. I used an associative array to demonstrate that arrays are not only more efficient for this application, they can also be much easier to work with.
I passed the value argument of the foreach by reference, the "&" prefix (similar to a pointer, variable stores the memory address as opposed to the value); this allows you to directly manipulate the value in your logic as opposed to being given a copy of the value and needing to reassign with something similar to a $drivers[$driver] = $points;