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                                     list

   (PHP 3, PHP 4 )
   list --  Assign variables as if they were an array

Description

   void list ( mixed ...)

   Like array(), this is not really a function, but a language construct.
   list() is used to assign a list of variables in one operation.

     Note: list() only works on numerical arrays and assumes the
     numerical indices start at 0.

   Example 1. list() examples
   <?php
   $info = array('coffee', 'brown', 'caffeine');
   // Listing all the variables
   list($drink, $color, $power) = $info;
   echo "$drink is $color and $power makes it special.\n";
   // Listing some of them
   list($drink, , $power) = $info;
   echo "$drink has $power.\n";
   // Or let's skip to only the third one
   list( , , $power) = $info;
   echo "I need $power!\n";
   ?>

   Example 2. An example use of list()
   <table>
   <tr>
     <th>Employee name</th>
     <th>Salary</th>
   </tr>
   <?php
   $result = mysql_query("SELECT id, name, salary FROM employees",
   $conn);
   while (list($id, $name, $salary) = mysql_fetch_row($result)) {
       echo " <tr>\n" .
             "  <td><a href=\"info.php?id=$id\">$name</a></td>\n" .
             "  <td>$salary</td>\n" .
             " </tr>\n";
   }
   ?>
   </table>

   Warning

   list() assigns the values starting with the right-most parameter. If
   you are using plain variables, you don't have to worry about this. But
   if you are using arrays with indices you usually expect the order of
   the indices in the array the same you wrote in the list() from left to
   right; which it isn't. It's assigned in the reverse order.

   Example 3. Using list() with array indices
   <?php
   $info = array('coffee', 'brown', 'caffeine');
   list($a[0], $a[1], $a[2]) = $info;
   var_dump($a);
   ?>

   Gives the following output (note the order of the elements compared in
   which order they were written in the list() syntax):
array(3) {
  [2]=>
  string(8) "caffeine"
  [1]=>
  string(5) "brown"
  [0]=>
  string(6) "coffee"
}

   See also each(), array() and extract().
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