PHP - Array fatal error

Question

I've got an odd error in my PHP code regarding dynamic arrays.

The error outputted is:

Fatal error: Cannot use string offset as an array ... on line 89

This is a portion of my code, it is within a foreach loop, which is looping through settings in a database:

foreach($query->fetchAll() as $row)
{
    if($site!=CURRENT_SITE_TEMPLATE)
    {
        $property = 'foreignSettings';
        $propertyType = 'foreignSettingsTypes';
    } else {
        $property = 'settings';
        $propertyType = 'settingTypes';
    }

    $this->$property[$row['variable_section']][$row['variable_name']] = $row['variable_value'];
    settype($this->$property[$row['variable_section']][$row['variable_name']],$row['variable_type']);

    $this->$propertyType[$row['variable_section']][$row['variable_name']] = $row['variable_type'];
}

For the sake of the example code, $site is 'admin' and CURRENT_SITE_TEMPLATE is 'admin'. In addition, $foreignSettings, $foreignSettingsTypes, $settings, and $settingTypes are all defined as arrays in the class scope

The error is on line 89, which is:

$this->$property[$row['variable_section']][$row['variable_name']] = $row['variable_value'];

I originally thought it was because of the $property variable accesing the array, however, this looks like valid legal code in the PHP documentation ( http://php.net/manual/en/language.variables.variable.php in example #1)

Any help on this error would be appreciated.

Thanks

Is the settings or foreignSettings property an array? var_dump($this->$property) and check what is in there. — cernunnos
– cernunnos, Commented Mar 21, 2013 at 11:50
I don't know how it should be, but try one of the following and see if it is ok: $this->{$property[$row['variable_section']][$row['variable_name']]} or $this->{$property}[$row['variable_section']][$row['variable_name']] (the 2nd one should be ok) — Voitcus
– Voitcus, Commented Mar 21, 2013 at 12:00

dakdad · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-21 12:05:07Z

1

In your given example $property is a string. You are then trying to use that as an array. Strings only has numeric indexes (if you need to use as an array).

answered Mar 21, 2013 at 12:05

dakdad

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ITroubs · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-21 12:08:26Z

0

The problem is as follows: $this->$property[0] means you access the 0th place of $property which in your case would be the first letter of the string $property. Thus you end up with $this->f or $this->s.

with $this->$property[0][0] you would be trying to access the 0th place of the 0th place of the $property string what results in an error because you try to access the 0th place of the char s what is not possible since the char s can not be referenced as an array.

what you want is $this->{$propperty}[0][0] what means that you try to access the 0th place of the 0th place of the variable that has the name $propperty.

answered Mar 21, 2013 at 12:08

ITroubs

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