accessing an array that was created inside a function

[poe]

lets say i have:
function makeName($fullNameString) {
  list($fn, $mn, $ln) = split(":", $fullNameString);
  $nameArray[] = array($fn, $mn, $ln, );
}// end function

i want my array to eventually looks like this:
  $nameArray[] = array('chris', 'w', 'smith', );
  $nameArray[] = array('pam', 't', 'lee', );
  $nameArray[] = array('mary', 'g', 'smith', );
  $nameArray[] = array('kim', 'a', 'jones', );

how do i access the "nameArray" later on such as:
foreach($nameArray as $k => $v){
echo "hello ".$v[0];
}

since the 'namearray' was created inside a function i cant get it to show results.

[doni49]

Return the array.

Add this line just after ech "hello ".v[0]:

return $nameArray;
[code]
$name = makeName("chris:w:smith");
echo "<br />First Name:  " . $name[0];
echo "<br />Middle Initial:  " . $name[1];
echo "<br />Last Name:  " . $name[2];
[/code]

[toplay]

There's three ways I can think of: 1) pass variable by reference, 2) use global keyword, and 3) have the function return the value.

Here's an example of having the function return the value desired. In this case an array:

[code=php:0]
function makeName($fullNameString) {
  return split(":", $fullNameString);
}// end function

$nameArray[] = makeName('chris:w:smith');
$nameArray[] = makeName('pam:t:lee');
$nameArray[] = makeName('mary:g:smith');
$nameArray[] = makeName('kim:a:jones');

foreach ($nameArray as $aryUser) {
  echo "Hello ", $aryUser[0];  // Display first name
}
[/code]