Hi,

I'm really sorry if I am being stupid here, but I am pulling my hair out. It's these little things that I can't track down, but here goes.

I have the following code, that simply is to assign the value of the $_GET to the variable $paperid.... but it doesn't work!

if(isset($_GET["id"]))
  $paperid = $_GET["id"];
  echo("$paperid");

I can do this:

if(isset($_GET["id"]))
//  $paperid = $_GET["id"];
  echo($_GET["id"]);

Which baffles me, as the 2nd line HAS to be commented for that to work.

Any help is really appreciated. I feel like a dunce

Many thanks!

like this maybe

PHP Code:

if(isset($_GET["id"])){
  $paperid = $_GET["id"];
  echo("$paperid"); } 


Yes it is confirmed... I am a dunce. The curley parenthesis fixed it.

Thank you so much for the quick reply, it really is appreciated

Just to clarify, if you are going to use an if (or any other control flow) statement without braces, the body of the statement must consist of only one line:

PHP Code:

//correct
if($conditional)
      echo 'my output';

//incorrect
if($conditional)
     $x = 1;
     echo $x;

//correct
if($conditional)
{
     $x = 1;
     echo $x;
} 


Ah... ok, that if great info. I'm new to PHP, and not a programming genius in any sense.

Thanks for the info!

Also, It's a lot more efficient to do the following:

PHP Code:

if(isset($_GET["id"])){
  $paperid = $_GET["id"];
  echo($paperid); // Not to put " when returning a string
}  

// For example (Slow/possibly dangerous Way):
echo ("$variable is better then $othervariable");

// Better way
echo ($variable.'is better then'.$othervariable); // The single quote will not execute what is within it, so it's a little faster there also. 


But yeah, use braces when coding it makes it easier when it comes to debugging also.