newbie problem - returning array value from function....help?

[phertzog]

I have what I'm sure is a simple fix for an experienced PHP person. I have a function whose purpose is to return an array of values to be used elsewhere on a page, but I can't seem to get it to ouput the array. (When I try to reference the $territory variable outside the function I get nothing.)

Here's my function:

 

function get_territory_names() {

$territory = array();

$sql = "SELECT terr_id, name FROM territories";

$result = mysql_query($sql) or die ("Error in query: $sql. " . mysql_error());

while ($row = mysql_fetch_object($result)) {

$key = $row->terr_id;

$value = $row->name;

$territory[$key] = $value;

}

return $territory;

}

 

$territory is supposed to hold about 12 key/value pairs.

I've replaced "return $territory" with "var_export($territory)" and see that the array is populated correctly....so I guess my question is just how do I get the array out of the function so I can reference it elsewhere on the page?

Any help is very much appreciated!!

 

[wildteen88]

Your function returns a value so what you want to do is this when you call your function

 

$my_array = get_territory_names();

 

$my_array will be passed the value of $territory created in the function.

[phertzog]

That did the trick. Thank you very much!!