php how to loop append to variable

Question

I have this PHP code that works:

for ($i=0; $i < 5; $i++) {
    do stuff to $class
    echo "<i class=\"glyphicon glyphicon-star $class\"></i>";
}

Instead of using echo in the loop, how would I append each iteration to a variable (say $stars) and then be able to display the result with

echo "$stars";

Possible duplicate of [PHP string concatenation](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11441369/php-string-concatenation) — , Aug 10 '17 at 21:28
Also FYI, `echo $stars;` has the same effect as `echo "$stars";`. The double quotes aren't necessary. — Don't Panic, Aug 10 '17 at 22:13

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 10 '17 at 21:29

Create a variable to hold your HTML. Concatenate the HTML to this variable instead of echoing it.

After the loop you can echo that variable.

$stars = '';
for ($i=0; $i < 5; $i++) {
    // do stuff to $class
    $stars .= "<i class=\"glyphicon glyphicon-star $class\"></i>";
}
echo $stars;

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 10 '17 at 21:29

3

You can use Concatenation assignment .= like this

$var='';
for ($i=0; $i < 5; $i++) {
    do stuff to $class
    $var.="<i class=\"glyphicon glyphicon-star $class\"></i>";
}
echo $var;

answered Aug 10 '17 at 21:29

Spoody

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score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 10 '17 at 22:03

Alternatively, you can do this without modifying your existing code using output buffering.

// start a new output buffer
ob_start();

for ($i=0; $i < 5; $i++) {
    //do stuff to $class

    // results of these echo statements go to the buffer instead of immediately displaying
    echo "<i class=\"glyphicon glyphicon-star $class\"></i>";
}

// get the buffer contents
$stars = ob_get_clean();

For a simple thing like this I would still use concatenation with .= as shown in the other answers, but just FYI.

php how to loop append to variable

3 Answers3