CODEWITHSUNDEEP
php
Tav
Tav

Reputation: 29

PHP variable treated as empty unless it is echoed

I'm defining a variable, $location, on a page called index.php and then using it when I set the header in a script called loginManager.php. If I simply use $location PHP insists that it is empty. However, if I echo the variable anywhere on the page it will recognize the contents of the variable.

Here is the relevant code:

index.php:

$location = $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'];
require_once($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . "/lib/loginManager.php");

loginManager.php:

header("Location: http://www.example.com/?location=$location");
echo $location;//Adding this line allows PHP to read the contents of $location.
               //If this line is commented out PHP treats it as if it were empty.

The code running on loginManager.php is not in a function or anything that would cause scoping problems with $location. Does anyone have any idea why PHP would behave in this way?

EDIT: I will expand on how I know PHP thinks $location is empty when I do not echo it somewhere on the page.

If I do something like:

If(empty($location))
    echo "location is empty";
else
    print "location is not empty";

PHP will print out "location is empty".

However, if I do something like this

echo $location;
If(empty($location))
    echo "location is empty";
else
    print "location is not empty";

PHP will print out "location is not empty". It does not seem to matter where I echo $location out.

EDIT #2: @jx12345 pointed out that it's not $location specifically that needs to be echoed, just that something needs to be echoed in order for $location to be read.

Upvotes: 2

Views: 158

Answers (3)

jx12345
jx12345

Reputation: 1670

Haven't you got some sort of weird loop happening here:

index.php loads "/lib/loginManager.php"

which redirects back to index.php with:

header("Location: http://www.example.com/?location=$location");

the echo just breaks the redirect

Try redirecting somewhere else, say test.php 

header("Location: http://www.test.co.uk/test.php?location=$location");

and in there have something like:

print_r($_REQUEST);

see what happens

Upvotes: 1

DiverseAndRemote.com
DiverseAndRemote.com

Reputation: 19888

I think your problem might be a redirection loop. I'm betting that $_POST['caller'] is empty and you are redirecting multiple times to / which then sets REQUEST_URI to blank.

Upvotes: 1

abeanders
abeanders

Reputation: 51

Try adding

global $location;

near the top of loginManager.php, if there's a variable scope issue that should take care of it.

Upvotes: 0

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