I am parsing an xml file, for some reason the variable I am trying to pass isnt working. In this case its $x.

I am getting, Undefined variable: x on line 32

PHP Code:

<?php
$file = "contactLast.xml";

function startTag($parser, $data, $x){

$text = $data;

//checking for first row which contains data
  if ($text == "ROW"){
      echo 'work here';
      $x = 1;
     return $x;
      }
 else
      {
      $x = 0;
      return $x;
      }
$handle = fopen('XXX.xml', 'a');

echo '<ul><li>' .$text. '</li>';
fwrite($handle, $text);
fclose($handle);
}

function contents($parser, $data){

//information is in this area
$info = $data;
echo '<ul><li>'.$info.'</li></ul>';

//below is line 32!
if ($x == '1') {
    echo 'this is here';
}
    else  {echo '';}

if ($info == "")
 {
    $handle = fopen('XXX.xml', 'a');
    $text = 'XXXXXXXXX';
    fwrite($handle, $text);
    fclose($handle);
   }

else {
  
    $handle = fopen('XXX.xml', 'a');
    $text = $info;
    fwrite($handle, $text);
 }
  }

function endTag($parser, $data){
 $handle = fopen('XXX.xml', 'a');
 $text = $data;
 echo '<li>'.$text.'</li></ul>';
 fwrite($handle, $text);
 fclose($handle);
}



echo date('Y-m-d-=-g:i-s');
if (unlink('XXX.xml')){
    $x = 1;
    echo $x;
}

$handle = fopen('XXX.xml', 'a');
$text = '<?xml version="1.0"?>';
fwrite($handle, $text);
fclose($handle);

$xml_parser = xml_parser_create();
/*if (!ini_set('max_execution_time', '300')){
    throw new Exception('failed');

}*/

xml_set_element_handler($xml_parser, "startTag", "endTag");
xml_set_character_data_handler($xml_parser, "contents");
$fp = fopen($file, "r");
$data = fread($fp, 20000);

if(!(xml_parse($xml_parser, $data, feof($fp)))){
    die("Error on line " . xml_get_current_line_number($xml_parser));
}

xml_parser_free($xml_parser);
fclose($fp);
?>

x is not defined within the scope of that function so it is not available within that function. If you want to access x you either have to declare it as a global by typing "global $x;" at the top of your function, or you need to get the variable from another of your functions (or as a parameter in the contents function); there's any number of ways of doing it. Maybe there's some code I'm missing here, but that's what I see.