WeberDev.com PHP and MySQL Code

LOG IN
BEGINNER GUIDES  |  PHP CLASSES  |  CODE SEARCH  |  ARTICLES SEARCH  |  PHP FORUMS  |  PHP MANUAL  |  PHP FUNCTIONS LIST  |  WEB SITE TEMPLATES
Start typing to search for PHP and MySQL Code Snippets and Articles Search
Submit a code Example / Snippet Submit Your Code
Search Engine Optimization Monitor SEO Monitor
Web Site UpTime Monitor UpTime Monitor
WeberDev's Monthly code contest PHP Code Contest
Your Personal Examples List My Favorite Examples
Your Personal Articles List My Favorite Articles
Edit Account Info Update Your Profile
More Weber Sites
PHP Code Search
Web Development Forums
Learn MySQL Playing Trivia
PHPBB2 Templates
Web Development Index
PHP Web Logs (BLogs)
Web Development Resources
Web Development Content
Recommended Links
PHPClasses
PHP Editor
PHP Jobs
Vision.To Design
Ajax Tutorials
PHP Programming Help
PHP/MySQL Programming
Webmaster Resources
Webmaster Forum
XML meta language
website builder
Recommended
Submit Site
Forex Trading Online forex trading platform
Assign variables as if they were an array

list

(PHP 4, PHP 5)

list — Assign variables as if they were an array

Description

void list ( mixed $varname [, mixed $... ] )

Like array(), this is not really a function, but a language construct. list() is used to assign a list of variables in one operation.

Parameters

varname

A variable.

Return Values

No value is returned.

Examples

Example #1 list() examples

<?php

$info = array('coffee', 'brown', 'caffeine');

// Listing all the variables
list($drink, $color, $power) = $info;
echo "$drink is $color and $power makes it special.\n";

// Listing some of them
list($drink, , $power) = $info;
echo "$drink has $power.\n";

// Or let's skip to only the third one
list( , , $power) = $info;
echo "I need $power!\n";

// list() doesn't work with strings
list($bar) = "abcde";
var_dump($bar); // NULL
?>

Example #2 An example use of list()

<table>
 <tr>
  <th>Employee name</th>
  <th>Salary</th>
 </tr>

<?php

$result = mysql_query("SELECT id, name, salary FROM employees", $conn);
while (list($id, $name, $salary) = mysql_fetch_row($result)) {
    echo " <tr>\n" .
          "  <td><a href=\"info.php?id=$id\">$name</a></td>\n" .
          "  <td>$salary</td>\n" .
          " </tr>\n";
}

?>

</table>

Example #3 Using nested list()

<?php

list($a, list($b, $c)) = array(1, array(2, 3));

var_dump($a, $b, $c);

?> 
 
 int(1) int(2) int(3)

Example #4 Using list() with array indices

<?php

$info = array('coffee', 'brown', 'caffeine');

list($a[0], $a[1], $a[2]) = $info;

var_dump($a);

?>

Gives the following output (note the order of the elements compared in which order they were written in the list() syntax): 

 
 array(3) {   [2]=>   string(8) "caffeine"   [1]=>   string(5) "brown"   [0]=>   string(6) "coffee" }

Notes

Warning

list() assigns the values starting with the right-most parameter. If you are using plain variables, you don't have to worry about this. But if you are using arrays with indices you usually expect the order of the indices in the array the same you wrote in the list() from left to right; which it isn't. It's assigned in the reverse order.

Note: list() only works on numerical arrays and assumes the numerical indices start at 0.

See Also