Understanding 'function' question

Jason

Hello everyone.
Back with a pretty simple question regarding functions in PHP. Granted,
still learning here and just trying to 'understand' what goes on and how
it works.

Here is a little simple piece of code that I have a question on:

<?php
$number = 50;

function tenTimes()

{
global $number;
$number = $number * 10;
}

tenTimes();
print $number;
?>
This displays 500 in a browser. Simple enough. I just have a question on
the 3rd to last row:

tenTimes();

I know that this is the name of the function, and everything within the
{} is what I defined for the tenTimes function...

But, why is tenTimes(); called at the bottom? I know if I remove it,
'50' is displayed in the page.

For some reason, I seem to having a tough time getting my head wrapped
around this. Could be that I am tired and need a break. :)

Can someone break that down for me? I appreciate it.

Jason

Jul 17 '05 #1

Subscribe Post Reply

1566

Garp

"Jason" <jw*******@courtesymortgage.com> wrote in message
news:10*************@corp.supernews.com...

Hello everyone.
Back with a pretty simple question regarding functions in PHP. Granted,
still learning here and just trying to 'understand' what goes on and how
it works.

Here is a little simple piece of code that I have a question on:

<?php
$number = 50;

function tenTimes()

{
global $number;
$number = $number * 10;
}

tenTimes();
print $number;
?>
This displays 500 in a browser. Simple enough. I just have a question on
the 3rd to last row:

tenTimes();

I know that this is the name of the function, and everything within the
{} is what I defined for the tenTimes function...

But, why is tenTimes(); called at the bottom? I know if I remove it,
'50' is displayed in the page.

For some reason, I seem to having a tough time getting my head wrapped
around this. Could be that I am tired and need a break. :)

Can someone break that down for me? I appreciate it.

Jason

I'd like to redirect you to somewhere more academic:
http://www.php.net/manual/en/langref.php

But suffice it to say that the code within a function (defined as above by
saying 'function x() { }') is executed whenever you call them (by saying
'x();'). More than that, it becomes a computer science thingy.

Garp

Jul 17 '05 #2

Jason

> I'd like to redirect you to somewhere more academic:

http://www.php.net/manual/en/langref.php

But suffice it to say that the code within a function (defined as above by
saying 'function x() { }') is executed whenever you call them (by saying
'x();'). More than that, it becomes a computer science thingy.

Garp

Hey Garp. I appreciate it. I took a break and grabbed some food and let
my brain rest a bit. I came back and then it seemed to make sense....I
think my brain was working hard and needed some downtime...

I appreciate your help.

Jas

Jul 17 '05 #3

Geoff Berrow

I noticed that Message-ID: <10*************@corp.supernews.com> from
Jason contained the following:

Hey Garp. I appreciate it. I took a break and grabbed some food and let
my brain rest a bit. I came back and then it seemed to make sense....I
think my brain was working hard and needed some downtime...

Don't feel bad about it. There is still loads of stuff that makes my
brain hurt.

Functions are little re-useable bits of code. Some times you can pass
values to them to make them give different output. For instance if you
put two text boxes on there to provide input to your function, it
becomes a lot more useful.
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Untitled Document</TITLE> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type"
CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
</HEAD>

<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000">
<?php
$num1 = $_POST['num1'];
$num2 = $_POST['num2'];
function multiply($number_from_box1,$number_from_box2)
{
$number = $number_from_box1 * $number_from_box2;
return $number;
}
?>
<FORM NAME="form1" METHOD="post" ACTION="">
<P>
<INPUT TYPE="text" NAME="num1"> X <INPUT TYPE="text" NAME="num2">
<INPUT TYPE="submit" NAME="Submit" VALUE="Submit">
</P>
<P><?php

print multiply($num1,$num2);

?>
</P>
</FORM>
</BODY>
</HTML>
--
Geoff Berrow (put thecat out to email)
It's only Usenet, no one dies.
My opinions, not the committee's, mine.
Simple RFDs http://www.ckdog.co.uk/rfdmaker/

Jul 17 '05 #4

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