After looking up the === operator, I see exactly what you mean. Thanks for your help everyone. I think the confusion was that I was always under the impression that assignment is either true or false; I would never have guessed it was equal to the value assigned. Your examples really helped to solidify the concept though! PS: I have to say that PHP has the *best* documentation I've ever seen beside Java. Thanks again! On Wed, Mar 31, 2010 at 4:43 AM, Richard Quadling <rquadling@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote: > On 31 March 2010 05:45, Matty Sarro <msarro@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > That explains it perfectly, thanks you! > > > > On Wed, Mar 31, 2010 at 12:40 AM, Tommy Pham <tommyhp2@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > > >> On Tue, Mar 30, 2010 at 9:22 PM, Matty Sarro <msarro@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > >> > Hey all! > >> > This is probably my second post on the list, so please be gentle. > Right > >> now > >> > I am running through the "Heads First PHP and MySQL" book from > O'Reilly. > >> > It's been quite enjoyable so far, but I have some questions about some > of > >> > the code they're using in one of the chapters. > >> > > >> > Basically the code is retreiving rows from a DB, and I'm just not > getting > >> > the explanation of how it works. > >> > > >> > Here's the code: > >> > > >> > $result=mysqli_query($dbc,$query) > >> > > >> > while($row=mysqli_fetch_array($result)){ > >> > echo $row['first_name'].' '.$row['last_name'].' : '. $row['email'] . > '<br > >> > />'; > >> > } > >> > > >> > Now, I know what it does, but I don't understand how the conditional > >> > statement in the while loop works. Isn't an assignment operation > always > >> > going to result in a "true" condition? Even if > >> mysqli_fetch_array($result) > >> > returned empty values (or null) wouldn't the actual assignment to $row > >> still > >> > be considered a true statement? I would have sworn that assignment > >> > operations ALWAYS equated to true if used in conditional operations. > >> > Please help explain! :) > >> > > >> > Thanks so much! > >> > -Matty > >> > > >> > >> http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.mysql-fetch-array.php > >> > >> "Returns an array of strings that corresponds to the fetched row, or > >> FALSE if there are no more rows." > >> > >> while($row=mysqli_fetch_array($result)) is equivalent to this: > >> > >> $row=mysqli_fetch_array($result); > >> while ($row){ > >> > >> // do something > >> > >> $row=mysqli_fetch_array($result); > >> } > >> > >> So, if $row is not equal to FALSE, the loop will happens. > >> > > > > Another part to the answer is the value of the assignment. From the > documentation ( > http://docs.php.net/manual/en/language.operators.assignment.php), > ... > > "The value of an assignment expression is the value assigned." > > while($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result)) > > > But there is a significant issue here. Whilst not attributable to the > mysqli_fetch_array() function, it is certainly possible to give > yourself a significant WTF moment with it. > > > May be will be easier to see the problem when the code is written as ... > > while(False === ($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result))) > > No? > > > If I say ... > > 0 == False > > does that help? > > > > Without running the 2 stupid scripts below, what output should you get? > > <?php while($pos = strpos('abc', 'a')) { echo 'a';} ?> > > and > > <?php while($pos = strpos('abc', 'z')) { echo 'z';} ?> > > Clearly, they should be different, yes? > > Unfortunately, they won't be. > > The first call returns 0 and the second returns False. > > And as 0 == False, the while() does not loop. > > But ... > > <?php while(False !== ($pos = strpos('abc', 'a'))) { echo 'a';} ?> > > and > > <?php while(False !== ($pos = strpos('abc', 'z'))) { echo 'z';} ?> > > now operate correctly. The first one runs forever, printing a's and > the second one quits straight away. > > By always using ... > > while(False !== ($var = function($param))) > > you can clearly differentiate between functions that return false to > indicate failure and 0 to indicate a position or actual value. > > Regards, > > Richard. > > > > > > -- > ----- > Richard Quadling > "Standing on the shoulders of some very clever giants!" > EE : http://www.experts-exchange.com/M_248814.html > EE4Free : http://www.experts-exchange.com/becomeAnExpert.jsp > Zend Certified Engineer : http://zend.com/zce.php?c=ZEND002498&r=213474731 > ZOPA : http://uk.zopa.com/member/RQuadling >