[SOLVED] nesting variables

[tbare]

here's what i want to do:

 

<?php
$tempID = "random";
$a = "\$humor_video_";
str_replace('$a', $a, $b);
$tempModded = $b.$tempID."_modded_day2";
?>

where

$humor_video_random_modded_day2 = "Dec 3";

so i want to be able to echo $tempModded; and return "Dec 3"

 

is this possible? and if so, how? i'm pulling my hair out here... basically, i'm in transition from flat files to mySQL, and getting stuff working in the "in between" stages..

 

TIA.

[genericnumber1]

are you talking about variable variables?

 

$str1 = 'foo';
$foo = 'bar';
echo $$str1; // Outputs "bar"

 

you can do it, but it's terrible practice... I'd suggest using arrays or finding a better alternative.

[tbare]

not exactly...

 

basically, "random" is a column in a row in a table (sounds a lot like the house that jack built....)

other columns in the same table include "zp" "snl", etc...

 

i need a good way to get

$humor_video_[columnContent]_modded_day

 

however necessary

 

So:

echo $humor_video_random_modded_day //print "Jun 2"
echo $humor_video_zp_modded_day //print "Jan 19"
echo $humor_video_snl_modded_day //print "Dec 5"

 

or whatever those variables happen to be....

[tbare]

nothing?

[genericnumber1]

I just don't understand :X

[tbare]

ok... i'll try again

 

i have a file "updated.php" that has when all categories have been updated last with code like (for simplicity's sake..):

<?php
$humor_video_random_modded_day = "Jun 2";
$humor_video_zp_modded_day = "Jan 19";
$humor_video_snl_modded_day = "Dec 2";
?>

 

i have a table that has in a column the content: random, zp, snl; each in a different row.

 

i have a for() loop that goes through and gets all the content from that table, and echos some info.

 

i want to be able to dynamically get the information in the updates.php site using the content in the table (random, zp, snl) in the variable...

 

so: $lastMod = "$humor_video_".$forloopArray[$i][4]."_modded_day";

 

but (obviously) the above code doesn't work, so i'm looking for a piece that will...

 

i'm hoping that this explains it a little better...

[genericnumber1]

can you post the code you're speaking of?

 

$tempID = "random";
$frontVar = "humor_video_";
$tempModded = ${$frontVar.$tempID."_modded_day2"};

 

is all I can really come up with from your original question... this will set $tempModded to the value held in $humor_video_random_modded_day2 (not that it's good practice).

[tbare]

gah.. you're a genius!! that's exactly what i needed... effing squiggly brackets!  i swear i tried every combination except that one (apparently....)

 

Thanks a ton!

[tbare]

...oh yeah, and i know it's not good practice, but it's only temporary until i get my (hundreds) of videos on the site into the db... which will probably take some time....

[genericnumber1]

as long as you put a comment for yourself in the future!

[tbare]

haha.. actually, i'm using filemtime() now to get the date, and in the future, date will be stored in the db, so the entire function will be different, so there won't need to be comments, because it will be re-written from scratch, basically..

 

thanks again!