How to use a Php constant with an array element

[John_Betong]

I am in the process of writing a demo which shows source files and requires database access.

I managed to solve the problem of not publishing my database login details but convince there must be a better way.

 // Database Access Details
    $docRoot    = $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'];
    $lastPath   = strrchr($docRoot, '/');
    $aboveRoot  = str_replace($lastPath, '/', $docRoot);
    $aboveRoot .= '_dbPARAMS.php';
    if( file_exists($aboveRoot) ):
      require $aboveRoot;
    else:
      define('HOST',  'yourhost');
      define('uName', 'userName');
      define('pWORD', 'passWord');  
      define('dBase', 'dataBase'); 
      define('dTABLE', 'tableName'); 
      define('dCOLUMN','columnName');  // SEE KLUDGE BELOW
    endif;

$conn =  mysqli_connect(HOST, uNAME, pWORD, dBASE);
$sql  = 'SELECT * FROM ' .dTABLE .' WHERE ';// .dCOLUMN; 

  foreach($aParams as $i2 => $param):
    if($i2 > 0):
      $sql = $sql .' AND ';
    endif;  
    $sql = $sql .dCOLUMN .' LIKE "%'. trim($param) .'%" ';
  endforeach; 


// all the constants work except dCOLUMN
   $dCOLUMN = dCOLUMN; // KLUDGE constant to string!!!
   while($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result))
   {
       echo '<br />' . $row["$dCOLUMN"];// see KLUDGE above
   }
         
            
        

[Mittineague]

Hmmm. I wonder if it’s because you are not following the CONSTANT naming convention.

AFAIK there is no rule that CONSTANTs need to be all uppercase so I would think dCOLUMN is valid.

PHP “fixes” code that has associative array string literal keys that are not inside quotation marks

According to the documentation
http://php.net/manual/en/language.types.array.php

PHP automatically converts a bare string (an unquoted string which does not correspond to any known symbol) into a string which contains the bare string. For instance, if there is no defined constant named bar, then PHP will substitute in the string ‘bar’ and use that.

Because you need a kludge, it looks like PHP is not recognizing dCOLUMN as “known symbol”.

[megazoid]

Why don’t you use it like this?

 echo '<br />' . $row[dCOLUMN]; //use constant directly

[John_Betong]

@Mittineague

PHP “fixes” code that has associative array string literal keys that are not inside quotation marks

Many thanks.

Now I understand.

I thought it was essential to have a quoted “string”.

[John_Betong]

@megazoid

Why don’t you use it like this?

echo ‘<br />’ . $row[dCOLUMN]; //use constant directly

Many thanks, it works a treat.

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