php - function return values dynamically - php

Question

I want to return a set of values from function till the point they exist....
for example....
function abc($i="3"){
for($a=1;$a<=$i;$a++) {
$name='t'.$i;
$$name = "ae".$a;
}
//now i am returning values
return array($t1,$t2,$t3,$t4,$t5,$t6,$t7,$t8,$t9,$t10);
//but i only want to return $t1,$t2,$t3 depending on $i
}
Thanks....
#therefromhere
I am also creating an array in the loop , I'll paste the original code so that you can understand it in a better way
function extracting_comments($table, $fields,$condition,$order,$limit){
$query="SELECT ".$fields."
FROM ".$table."
WHERE ".$condition."
ORDER BY ".$order."
LIMIT ".$limit." ";
if($stmt = $this->conn->prepare($query)) {
$stmt->execute();
$row = array_pad(array(), $stmt->field_count, '');
$params = array();
foreach($row as $k=>$v) {
$params[] = &$row[$k];
echo $params[0];
}
call_user_func_array(array($stmt,'bind_result'),$params);
$i=0;
while($stmt->fetch()) {
$i++;
$name='t'.$i;
$$name = array();
foreach ($row as $b=>$elem) {
$atul[$b]=$row[$b];
}
$$name=$atul;
}
return array($t1,$t2,$t3,$t4,$t5,$t6,$t7,$t8,$t9,$t10);
$stmt->close();
}
}
now their are only 5 rows of data so their is no point returning $t6,$t7,$t8,$t9,$t10
and i want to fix it ,and i am calling the function using
$extract=extracting_comments($table, $fields,$condition,$order,$limit);
please help...thanks

Answer 1

Just build the array in your for loop:
function abc($i=3) {
$array = array();
for ($a=1; $a<=$i; $a++) {
$array[] = "ae".$a;
}
return $array;
}
After you edited your question an revealed us your actual problem, see here my proposal:
function extracting_comments($table, $fields, $condition, $order, $limit) {
$retVal = array();
$query = "SELECT ".$fields."
FROM ".$table."
WHERE ".$condition."
ORDER BY ".$order."
LIMIT ".$limit." ";
if ($stmt = $this->conn->prepare($query)) {
$stmt->execute();
$row = array_pad(array(), $stmt->field_count, '');
call_user_func_array(array($stmt, 'bind_result'), $row);
while ($stmt->fetch()) {
$retVal[] = $row;
}
$stmt->close();
return $retVal;
}
}

Answer 2

I believe this will help you. You have very complicated code with a lot of side effects and bug, you'd better to consider to redisgn it. Also putting statements after return will no have any effect, since it wouldn't be invoked.
function extracting_comments($table, $fields,$condition,$order,$limit){
$query="SELECT ".$fields."
FROM ".$table."
WHERE ".$condition."
ORDER BY ".$order."
LIMIT ".$limit." ";
if($stmt = $this->conn->prepare($query)) {
$stmt->execute();
$row = array_pad(array(), $stmt->field_count, '');
$params = array();
foreach($row as $k=>$v) {
$params[] = &$row[$k];
echo $params[0];
}
call_user_func_array(array($stmt,'bind_result'),$params);
$i=0;
$result = array();
while($stmt->fetch()) {
$i++;
foreach ($row as $b=>$elem) {
$atul[$b]=$row[$b];
}
$result[]=$atul;
}
$stmt->close();
return $result;
}
}

Answer 3

It'd be cleaner to build the array as you go along, then you wouldn't need the temporary variables:
function abc($i="3") {
$myArray = array();
for($a=1;$a<=$i;$a++) {
$myArray[] = "ae" . $a; // add new values to the end of the array
}
return $myArray;
}
If you want to check if the variables exist (and are not null), use isset().