Change / get variable name dynamically

using FOR loop to get variable - help with basic syntax please

[ManMountain]

Hi

a real basic one that has me stumped - I have a FOR loop, and I want to display the contents of a set of variables. E.g.:

$var1 = "Hello";
$var2 = "How are you?";
$var3 = "Merry Christmas";
$var4 = "Nice Day";

for($i=1;$i<4;$i++){
echo ["var".$i];
}

I've been hunting around for a while, the only thing I could find was some reference to using square brackets. Only I can't get it to work, could someone point me in the right direction?

Much appreciated as always.

Ted.

[g1smd]

Would you be better off using an array?

Then you'd use $var[0] to $var[3] instead and in the loop you'd use $var[$i].

[astupidname]

I agree, an array is the natural choice for this sort of thing, but to answer your question: If the vars are in the global scope they are already in an array (the $GLOBALS array), so yeah the square bracket notation will work here:

$var1 = "Hello";
$var2 = "How are you?";
$var3 = "Merry Christmas";
$var4 = "Nice Day";

for($i=1;$i<5;$i++){
echo $GLOBALS['var'.$i].'<br>';
}

Now, if the vars would happen to be within a function, you could get them from an array via get_defined_vars()which gives you the variables contained in the current scope (function scope as opposed to global scope):

function privateVars() {
$v1 = 'Nice day';
$v2 = ', is it';
$v3 = ' not?';
$allVars = get_defined_vars();
for ($i = 1; $i < 4; $i++) {
echo $allVars['v'.$i];
}
}

privateVars();

[penders]

Or, variable variables [uk3.php.net].