Cannot use "-" in variable names?

[ross]

The following gives an error:

<?php
$super-man=100;
?>

Parse error: parse error, unexpected '=' in /test.php on line 2

I understand that the "-" sign is seen as an operator.
is there a way to get around this? I need to have "-" in variable names.

Thanks,
Ross

[Nicholas Sherlock]

ross wrote:

The following gives an error:

<?php
$super-man=100;
?>

Parse error: parse error, unexpected '=' in /test.php on line 2

I understand that the "-" sign is seen as an operator.
is there a way to get around this? I need to have "-" in variable names.

No, you cannot use the "-" sign in variables. You can use "_".

Cheers,
Nicholas Sherlock

[Kim André Akerø]

ross wrote:

The following gives an error:

<?php
$super-man=100;
?>

Parse error: parse error, unexpected '=' in /test.php on line 2

I understand that the "-" sign is seen as an operator.
Correct, the "-" sign is considered as a minus sign.
is there a way to get around this? I need to have "-" in variable
names.

Why?

You can safely use "_" (underscore) instead. If you need to use it in a
query string or form field, use $_POST, $_GET or $_REQUEST.

--
Kim André Akerø
- ki******@NOSPAMbetadome.com
(remove NOSPAM to contact me directly)

[Justin Koivisto]

Kim André Akerø wrote:

ross wrote:

The following gives an error:

<?php
$super-man=100;
?>

Parse error: parse error, unexpected '=' in /test.php on line 2

I understand that the "-" sign is seen as an operator.

Correct, the "-" sign is considered as a minus sign.

is there a way to get around this? I need to have "-" in variable
names.

Why?

You can safely use "_" (underscore) instead. If you need to use it in a
query string or form field, use $_POST, $_GET or $_REQUEST.

- characters in those arrays are replaced by _ automagically...

--
Justin Koivisto, ZCE - ju****@koivi.com
http://koivi.com

[Kim André Akerø]

Justin Koivisto wrote:

Kim André Akerø wrote:

ross wrote:

The following gives an error:

<?php
$super-man=100;
?>

Parse error: parse error, unexpected '=' in /test.php on line 2

I understand that the "-" sign is seen as an operator.

Correct, the "-" sign is considered as a minus sign.

is there a way to get around this? I need to have "-" in variable
names.

Why?

You can safely use "_" (underscore) instead. If you need to use it
in a query string or form field, use $_POST, $_GET or $_REQUEST.

- characters in those arrays are replaced by _ automagically...

I wasn't aware of that. Then again, I've never had the need/use to have
a "-" in a variable (either in a form or as a query string).

--
Kim André Akerø
- ki******@NOSPAMbetadome.com
(remove NOSPAM to contact me directly)

[Wayne]

On Fri, 09 Dec 2005 14:20:25 -0500, ross <ao*******@yahoo.com> wrote:

I understand that the "-" sign is seen as an operator.
is there a way to get around this? I need to have "-" in variable names.

Why do you need to have "-" in variable names?!?
(answering this question might help us find you an alternative)

[Ian]

ross wrote:

The following gives an error:

<?php
$super-man=100;
?>

Parse error: parse error, unexpected '=' in /test.php on line 2

I understand that the "-" sign is seen as an operator.
is there a way to get around this? I need to have "-" in variable names.

Why? No one else does.

Ian

[Malcolm Dew-Jones]

Justin Koivisto (ju****@koivi.com) wrote:

: Kim André Akerø wrote:
: >
: > You can safely use "_" (underscore) instead. If you need to use it in a
: > query string or form field, use $_POST, $_GET or $_REQUEST.

: - characters in those arrays are replaced by _ automagically...

There must be a config setting to do that, cause I have never observed
that behaviour. The following uses - in the html parameter names.
<?php

echo "the-name = [";
echo $_REQUEST['the-name'];
echo "]\n";
echo "hidden-name = [";
echo $_REQUEST['hidden-name'];
echo "]\n";

?>

<form>

<input type="text" name="the-name" />

<input type="hidden" name="hidden-name" value="a hidden value" />

<input type=submit />

</form>

[Justin Koivisto]

Malcolm Dew-Jones wrote:

Justin Koivisto (ju****@koivi.com) wrote:

: Kim André Akerø wrote:
: >
: > You can safely use "_" (underscore) instead. If you need to use it in a
: > query string or form field, use $_POST, $_GET or $_REQUEST.

: - characters in those arrays are replaced by _ automagically...

There must be a config setting to do that, cause I have never observed
that behaviour. The following uses - in the html parameter names.
<?php

echo "the-name = [";
echo $_REQUEST['the-name'];
echo "]\n";
echo "hidden-name = [";
echo $_REQUEST['hidden-name'];
echo "]\n";

?>

<form>

<input type="text" name="the-name" />

<input type="hidden" name="hidden-name" value="a hidden value" />

<input type=submit />

</form>

Now I wonder if I have that mixed up with something else dealing with
hyphens in the field names of posted forms... (PDF forms perhaps?)

I know it came up once in a script I was debugging a couple years ago,
so maybe it was something from a previous version, or maybe it was if
register_globals = 1

--
Justin Koivisto, ZCE - ju****@koivi.com
http://koivi.com

[Chung Leong]

Malcolm Dew-Jones wrote:

Justin Koivisto (ju****@koivi.com) wrote:

: Kim André Akerø wrote:
: >
: > You can safely use "_" (underscore) instead. If you need to use it ina
: > query string or form field, use $_POST, $_GET or $_REQUEST.

: - characters in those arrays are replaced by _ automagically...

There must be a config setting to do that, cause I have never observed
that behaviour. The following uses - in the html parameter names.

I would have sworn to god that that's how it work, at least in the case
of register_globals = 1 and extract(). Yet that's not the behavior when
I tried. Dashes remain dashes in $_GET and the variable isn't set.
Weird...

[Justin Koivisto]

Chung Leong wrote:

Malcolm Dew-Jones wrote:

Justin Koivisto (ju****@koivi.com) wrote:

: Kim André Akerø wrote:
: >
: > You can safely use "_" (underscore) instead. If you need to use it in a
: > query string or form field, use $_POST, $_GET or $_REQUEST.

: - characters in those arrays are replaced by _ automagically...

There must be a config setting to do that, cause I have never observed
that behaviour. The following uses - in the html parameter names.

I would have sworn to god that that's how it work, at least in the case
of register_globals = 1 and extract(). Yet that's not the behavior when
I tried. Dashes remain dashes in $_GET and the variable isn't set.
Weird...

Good, I'm not completely loosing it them... ;)

--
Justin Koivisto, ZCE - ju****@koivi.com
http://koivi.com

[Chung Leong]

Justin Koivisto wrote:

Chung Leong wrote:

Malcolm Dew-Jones wrote:

Justin Koivisto (ju****@koivi.com) wrote:

: Kim André Akerø wrote:
: >
: > You can safely use "_" (underscore) instead. If you need to use it in a
: > query string or form field, use $_POST, $_GET or $_REQUEST.

: - characters in those arrays are replaced by _ automagically...

There must be a config setting to do that, cause I have never observed
that behaviour. The following uses - in the html parameter names.

I would have sworn to god that that's how it work, at least in the case
of register_globals = 1 and extract(). Yet that's not the behavior when
I tried. Dashes remain dashes in $_GET and the variable isn't set.
Weird...

Good, I'm not completely loosing it them... ;)

--
Justin Koivisto, ZCE - ju****@koivi.com
http://koivi.com

Aha, now I remember! It's the period/fullstop that gets automatically
replaced by an underscore, not the dash.

[ross]

I "was" parsing a xml file and would like to create variables on the fly
with the same name as the XML tags. some of the xml tags are in the
form "xx-yy" etc.

I now know the xml structure and I am reverting back to xx_yy.