Does anyone know how I should interpret this

[fortnox007]

Hi all, I just saw a small snippet on the internet and I wasn't sure on the { and } right after the variable.  In the snippet below they have a variable that uses it right behind it. So to make myself more clear I know what's going on inside the {..} but I have never seen those things right after a variable.

The closest thing I could think of is that it's a form of sub string. If anyone knows what it is and how to apply it on future cases I would love to hear it. 

 

Here is a piece of the code (which is part of a while loop)

 

$string = $chars{mt_rand(0,strlen($chars))};

[Username:]

Hi all, I just saw a small snippet on the internet and I wasn't sure on the { and } right after the variable.  In the snippet below they have a variable that uses it right behind it. So to make myself more clear I know what's going on inside the {..} but I have never seen those things right after a variable.

The closest thing I could think of is that it's a form of sub string. If anyone knows what it is and how to apply it on future cases I would love to hear it. 

 

Here is a piece of the code (which is part of a while loop)

 

$string = $chars{mt_rand(0,strlen($chars))};

Not a clue either, I've only seen brackets, maybe it's the same thing as

$string = $chars

{

mt_rand(0,strlen($chars));

}

???

:shrug:

[fortnox007]

Hmm I just tested a little and i think it is indeed a form of sub string or something close

$string_lala = 'abcd';
echo $string_lala{0}; // gives an a

Hmm could be like an array also :-)

 

[Alex]

You can access the characters of a string by using brackets like that, but it's depreciated as of PHP 6 in favor of the [] operator.

 

$chars = "abc";
echo $chars{2}; // c
// But you should do this:
echo $chars[2];

[fortnox007]

HA nice, Thx Alex!

 

So the code should be rewritten like

 

$string = $chars[mt_rand(0,strlen($chars))];

// as of php6

[Alex]

It should be written that way as of now. The [] operator will work for accessing characters of a string before PHP 6, and because it'll be the only non-depreciated way as of PHP 6 it's a good idea to only use [] now. Unless you want your code to break on a server running PHP 6.

[fortnox007]

Thanks for the advise!

[fortnox007]

hehe Just made a noobie function to echo all characters out on a new line. If someone can use it.. (i doubt that, but it's nice to fill up your screen)

 

$stringy = 'monkeys tend to eat banana\'s';
$length = strlen($stringy);

for ($i=0;$i<$length;$i++){
   echo $stringy[$i].'<br />';
}

[Alex]

echo implode("<br />", str_split($str));

[fortnox007]

NIce, I keep forgetting to look into implode and explode. Thanks for sharing this