php variable scope inside a loop in a function

Question

I am wondering is there any way to get the value of a variable, that was defined in a loop inside a function?

Do variables declared in a loop / if-then-else, etc have a limited scope (only inside these blocks)?

here is an example of a function:

<?php

function getComments($tabName) {
    $sql = "select
                a.owner,
        a.table_name,
        a.column_name,
        a.data_type,
        a.data_length,
        a.data_precision,
        b.comments
            from 
                all_tab_columns a,
        user_col_comments b
            where 
                a.TABLE_NAME = b.table_name
        and a.COLUMN_NAME = b.column_name
        and a.owner = 'CORE' 
        and a.table_name ='" . $tabName . "'
            order by 
                a.column_id";
    $stid = oci_parse(getConnect(), $sql);

    // runs the query above                   
    oci_execute($stid);
    while ($row = oci_fetch_array($stid, OCI_ASSOC + OCI_RETURN_NULLS)) {
        foreach ($row as $column => $entry) {
            // Column name
            if ($column == 'COLUMN_NAME') {
                $output = "this is a column";
            }
        }
    }

    return $output;
}

And here I get the "Undefined variable: output" error.

if I put echo instead the $output variable, I get the result.

Is it because the $output scope? How can I get the $output value in my return?

Seems that the $output variable isn't being set because the if-condition hasn't been satisfied. You should be starting with $output = ''; at the top of your function to avoid this issue. — sjagr
– sjagr, Commented Sep 16, 2014 at 14:31
thanks for the hint. However when I try $output = "" at the beginning, I just get an empty result in the output. It just remains unchanged — Bebus
– Bebus, Commented Sep 16, 2014 at 14:34
Along with @ʰᵈˑ's suggestion of using $output .= 'this is a column';, you should still be examining your if-statement, because it's clearly not being satisfied. You need to figure out why that's not happening. — sjagr
– sjagr, Commented Sep 16, 2014 at 14:38
Maybe change how you save the looped results, perhaps to an array. This way u can see what you are actually returning. Comment out the "if" line and make $output an array. That will send all variables to an array for evaluation — Rasclatt
– Rasclatt, Commented Sep 16, 2014 at 14:50
You're still ignoring the blatantly obvious problem of your if-statement from ever returning true... Or potentially, from the while or foreach loops never actually executing due to empty SQL results — sjagr
– sjagr, Commented Sep 16, 2014 at 15:00

sandip · Accepted Answer · 2014-09-16 14:42:29Z

1

try to satisfy this condition

        if ($column == 'COLUMN_NAME') {
            $output = "this is a column";
        }

and also u can try to return immediately after ur condition

        if ($column == 'COLUMN_NAME') {
            return "this is a column";
        }

answered Sep 16, 2014 at 14:42

sandip

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2 Comments

Bebus Over a year ago

if I return immediately after condition, it shows an empty result. It seems it returns only outside the if/then/else and loop blocks

Bebus Over a year ago

it was an error in my sql connection/statement logic, as I got "false" while fetching data.

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