how to find if a number is even or odd

[tomfmason]

I have a query that will retrieve a product from disription from my db. Well I am wanting to use a counter and if $i is even then I will use one lay out and if it is odd I will use another.

here is a simple example of my code

[code=php:0]
$i = 0;
while ($rw = mysql_fetch_assoc($sql)) {
    if ($i == "I need something that means an even number") {
        $class = "startRight";
    }else{
        $class = "startLeft";
    }
    //now I finish displaying the results
}
[/code]

Any suggestions would be great.

Thanks,
Tom

[.josh]

$class =  ($i % 2 == 0) ? "startRight" : "startLeft";

[tomfmason]

Will that work?? I am going to display 10 results per page. I guess I could create an even array then use in_array. But I thought that there might be a better way.

Thanks,
Tom

[.josh]

a "better" way? I don't think it gets better than that...

that's just a shorthand version of what you were trying to do. you could have done it like this:
[code]
$i = 0;
while ($rw = mysql_fetch_assoc($sql)) {
    if ($i % 2 == 0) {
        $class = "startRight";
    }else{
        $class = "startLeft";
    }
    //now I finish displaying the results
}
[/code]
however, i don't see anything in your code that increments $i ...

what is $i supposed to be?

[tomfmason]

I forgot to add $i++; in my example.

$i is counting the number of times that the loop is processed. Which will be ten times. So if I go with your code then on the 4th time then wont it start on the left instead of the right? Or am I missing your point completly??

Thanks for the Help,
Tom

[.josh]

okay the point of the ($i % 2 == 0) is that the % operator is the modulus operator. it takes $i and divides it by 2 and gives the remainder. if there is no remainder, then the number must be even.  So in your if..else.. statement, it does just that, assigning 'startRight' to $class if there is no remainder (therefore the condition is true because it would equal 0), but if it is not, then it assigns 'startLeft' to $class instead.  my one line piece of code is simply a shorthand way of doing your if..else statement, with the exact same condition.  it's called a ternary operator. Both of these do the same thing:

[code]
$i = 0;
while ($rw = mysql_fetch_assoc($sql)) {
    if ($i % 2 == 0) {
        $class = "startRight";
    }else{
        $class = "startLeft";
    }
    //now I finish displaying the results
    $i++;
}
[/code]
does the same as this:
[code]
$i = 0;
while ($rw = mysql_fetch_assoc($sql)) {
  $class =  ($i % 2 == 0) ? "startRight" : "startLeft";
  // now i finish displaying the results
  $i++;
}
[/code]
basically that line of code says this: if the part in the ( ) is true, then assign the value on the left side of the colon to $class. If it is false, then assign the value to the right side of the colon.

[tomfmason]

Thank you very much. That was very informative. I also googled it and found several other methods.

Thanks again,
Tom

[.josh]

Oh and to answer this:
[quote author=tomfmason link=topic=107313.msg430342#msg430342 date=1157691771]
So if I go with your code then on the 4th time then wont it start on the left instead of the right? Or am I missing your point completly??
[/quote]
no.  if you do $i++ it will alternate between assigning left and right to $class. each time $i is incremented, it divides that number by 2 and compares the remainder to 0.

0 / 2 = 0 no remainder:even.
1 / 2 = 0 remainder .5: odd.
2 / 2 = 1 no remainder: even.
3 / 2 = 1 remainder 1: odd.
4 / 2 = 2 no remainder: even.
5 / 2 = 2 remainder 1: odd.
6 / 2 = 3 no remainder: even.
7 / 2 = 3 remainder 1: odd.
8 / 2 = 4 no remainder: even.
9 / 2 = 4 remainder 1: odd.
10 / 2 = 5 no remainder: even.

get it?