Unset Not Clearing Array Key/Value

Question

I have form submission that redirects based on the results of a survey. On the landing page, I call a function to process query string, query the database and return results as an array for in-page processing.

function surveyResults() {
 if($goodtogo) {
 $survey = $wpdb->get_results(...,ARRAY_A);
 $name_has_space = strpos(trim($q_name_field[0]),' ');
 if($name_has_space === false) {
 $q_first_name = $q_name_field[0];
 $name_has_num = preg_match('/[0-9]/',$q_first_name);
 $q_first_name = ((0 === $name_has_num) ? " ".ucfirst($q_first_name).", " : '');
 } else {
 $q_first_name = substr(trim($q_name_field[0]),0,$name_has_space);
 $name_has_num = preg_match('/[0-9]/',$q_first_name);
 $q_first_name = ((0 === $name_has_num) ? " ".ucfirst($q_first_name).", " : '');
 }
 $survey['name']['q_fname'] = $q_first_name;
 $results = $survey;
 } else {
 $results = false;
 }
 return $results;
}

Output:

Array (
 [0]=> Array (
 'key' => 'value'
 )
 ...
 [n]=> Array (
 'key' => 'value'
 )
 ['name'] => Array (
 [q_fname] => MyName
 )
)

Which is perfect – except – each time I test the page, the $survey[0-n] results change as queried, but the $survey['name']['q_fname'] still holds the previous value MyName.

I have tried adding unset($survey['name']['q_fname']); immediately after setting $results = $survey; but that doesn't seem to make a difference. Do I need to unset($results) or use a reference &$fname...

What am I missing here?

Thanks

• Barmar: PHP variables don't hold their values from one run to the next, everything starts fresh each time you load the page. So something else must be going on. Post your actual code rather than pseudo-code.
• macgregor: Updated the code above, which I originally thought might be the issue, but don't understand how this could make $survey['name']['q_fname'] = $q_first_name; be persistent.
• macgregor: I tested the following to determine output: if($name_has_space === 0) { $q_first_name = '0'; } else { $q_first_name = 'false'; } $name_has_num = preg_match('/[0-9]/',$q_first_name); if(0 === $name_has_num) { $q_first_name = '0'; } else { $q_first_name = $name_has_num; } Tested with and w/o spaces and numbers and the output changed, but as soon I went back to the original code, the previous value was displayed. Double checked the database and no such record, so I'm completely baffled.

Answer 1

I'm macgregor, and I'm an idiot. Missed a critical piece of condition in the query.

• deceze: I fully endorse this solution.