php passing the variable from a function to another function

[ballball]

i hope you got my point from the title box..

here's the problem:
im trying to create a simple login/logout using function.. i have a login.php and function.php

im trying to do this because i learned that if you use a function into your script.. it wont be messy.

this is the code for the login.php

<form method="POST" action="function.php">
<table>
<tr><td>Username:</td><td><input type="text" name="user" value=""></td></tr>
<tr><td>Password:</td><td><input type="password" name="pass" value=""></td></tr>
<tr><td><input type="submit" name="login" value="Login"></td></tr>
</table>
</form> 

this is the code for the function.php

//for login
function login(){
$user=$_POST['user'];
$pass=$_POST['pass'];

$sql="select * from account where username='".$user."' AND password='".$pass."'";
$sql2=mysql_query($sql);

}

//pass the $sql2 to the check function 
function check(){
login($sql2);
while($row=mysql_fetch_array($sql2)){
echo $a=$row['username'];
echo $b=$row['id'];
echo $c=$row['password'];
}
}
check(); 

[stevengoh]

Either make the variable as global or get the two functions into a class object

[NogDog]

Just have the login function return the result:

<?php
//for login
function login() 
{
    $user = $_POST['user'];
    $pass = $_POST['pass'];
    $sql = "select * from account where username='" . $user . "' AND password='" . $pass . "'";
    $sql2 = mysql_query($sql);
    return $sql2; // <<------------<<<<<<<<<
    
}
//pass the $sql2 to the check function
function check() 
{
    $sql2 = login(); // <<----------<<<<<<<<<<
    while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($sql2)) 
    {
        echo $a = $row['username'];
        echo $b = $row['id'];
        echo $c = $row['password'];
    }
}
check();

PS: you should probably add some defensive coding in the second function to make sure the returned value is not false. I would avoid using "global" in pretty much any case I can imagine, but putting this into a class and going object-oriented is a good idea (if you have the time to learn it right and not just throw a bunch of procedural functions into a class container).

[ballball]

sorry but i'm just a newbie in using function.. anyway after researching i did figured out on how to fix the problem.. i just use this reference function to get my desired output... but the problem is...

//for login

function login(&$user,&$pass){
$user;
$pass;
}
login($a=$_POST['user'],$b=$_POST['pass']);
echo $a,"<br>";
echo $b,"<br>"; 

i get this error

Strict Standards: Only variables should be passed by reference in 

the good thing is the variables at $a, and $b successfully displayed the output, but i get the error from the above.

[NogDog]

I see no reason to pass anything by reference at this point.

[ballball]

okay i got it.. thank you very much!