Return vs Echo

[Adamhumbug]

I have a php function that is called via ajax:

function getItemAttributesById($itemId){
	require 'includes/dbconn.php';
	$sql = "SELECT id, name, type, price_uk, price_us, price_ca, price_au, price_eu, billing_freq from item where id = :itemId";
	$stmt = $pdo->prepare($sql);
	$bindData = [
		'itemId' => $itemId
	];
	$stmt->execute($bindData);
	$item = $stmt->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);
	echo json_encode($item);
}

when i echo the $item at the end of the function and console.log the response in ajax, i can see the array.

When i use the return keyword instead of echo i just see the word "Array".  From my understanding of what they do, i wouldnt have thought there would have been a difference in what got back to the ajax function.  Am i using it wrong?

[ginerjm]

An echo is an 'output' statement which is why you actually see something.  A return is not.  It is simply a method to pass a value back to another that is waiting to receive it.

[Barand]

Return values from functions.

And stop conneting inside your functions! Connect once at top of script and pass the connection to your functions.

I'd structure it something like this...

<?php
require 'includes/dbconn.php';

## HANDLE AJAX CALL
if ( isset($_GET['itemId']) ) {                             // if it's an ajax request
    exit(getItemAttributesById($pdo, $_GET['itemId']));
}


function getItemAttributesById($pdo, $itemId){
    
    $sql = "SELECT id, name, type, price_uk, price_us, price_ca, price_au, price_eu, billing_freq from item where id = :itemId";
    $stmt = $pdo->prepare($sql);
    $bindData = [
        'itemId' => $itemId
    ];
    $stmt->execute($bindData);
    $item = $stmt->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);
    return json_encode($item);
}
?>

 

 

[Adamhumbug]

Thanks both for the explanations.

**removing endless includes for db from code now**