PHP Define

[Vivid Lust]

PHP Define:

 

I've seen it around ... what is it and what does it do? An are there any tutorials with it???

 

Oh, the PHP net site really confuses me, so theres no point posting that.

 

Thanks in advanced

 

Jake!

 

AKA Vivid Lust

[drisate]

It's not confusing when you take the time to read lol

 

Defines a named constant at runtime

Returns TRUE on success or FALSE on failure.

 

<?php
define("CONSTANT", "Hello world.");
echo CONSTANT; // outputs "Hello world."
echo Constant; // outputs "Constant" and issues a notice.

define("GREETING", "Hello you.", true);
echo GREETING; // outputs "Hello you."
echo Greeting; // outputs "Hello you."

?> 

[Vivid Lust]

So they are basically variables? ???

[drisate]

Exacly it's a way of making vars with out a $ into a simple way of explaining it lol

[Vivid Lust]

Ok, thanks.

[aschk]

No no, they're not variables at all, they're constants

Once you've done DEFINE("name", "blah");

You CAN'T then to do name = "some other blah";

[jeremyphphaven]

Yes, let me interject here as well.

 

A constant is something you want to define that WILL NEVER CHANGE through your entire script/app

 

A good example might be:

Take FORUMS for instance... in your preferences you set Date and Time.

 

In the code, a constant...

define("USERTIME", "-8"); // GMT-8 for Pacific time

... may be defined for use later.

 

This will never change in your script once defined and the use of constants is definitely a methodical thing.