How do I use a variable within a variable in PHP?

Question

When I use

echo $stores_open_starts["tuesday"]; or echo $stores_open_starts['tuesday'];

I get

11.00

Now, I want to use this dynamically. I generate the day like this:

$today_date = date('d', strtotime("today")); $today_date = strtolower($today_date);

But then when I do

echo $stores_open_starts["{$today_date}"]; or echo $stores_open_starts[$today_date];

it doesn't work. What am I doing wrong?

$stores_open_starts["{$today_date}"] means that you want to print an array element with index equals to $today_date value. did your array contains that index? — Karim Harazin
– Karim Harazin, Commented Sep 21, 2016 at 9:01
Have you tried echo($today_date); to check it's the value you expected? — Ben Hillier
– Ben Hillier, Commented Sep 21, 2016 at 9:03
if you want to use full textual representation of the day of the week you should use l (lower case L) instead of d — follio
– follio, Commented Sep 21, 2016 at 9:04
Also, don't forget to lowercase your response as date('l') will return Tuesday and it appears you want tuesday. — R. Chappell
– R. Chappell, Commented Sep 21, 2016 at 9:06

Ben Hillier · Accepted Answer · 2016-09-21 09:06:14Z

3

I think you want the full day of the week as a string. That's:

$today_date = date('l', strtotime("today"));    //You should use 'l' and not 'd'
$today_date = strtolower($today_date);

'd' returns the day of the month, not the name of the weekday.

answered Sep 21, 2016 at 9:06

Ben Hillier

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