Trying to echo variable value into the input type name

Question

I want to create dynamic names based on a variable value. I use a variable $count which holds 0 initially and is incremented giving each input type a different value.

Sadly after I submit the form and I try to acess those variables they don't exist. The variables should be $0,$1,$2 etc depending on the number of the input types. Before acessing them I have extracted the POST array.

while ($nrpyetjeve >0)
{
  $raport="SELECT * FROM $emrikategorise WHERE Id=$nrpyetjarandom";
  $result1=mysql_query($raport);
  $rrjeshti=mysql_fetch_assoc($result1);
  echo "<h3>- {$rrjeshti['Pyetja']}</h3><br/><br/>";
  echo "<ul><li>{$rrjeshti['Pgj1']}</li>";
  echo "<li>{$rrjeshti['Pgj2']}</li>";
  echo "<li>{$rrjeshti['Pgj3']}</li>";
  echo "<li>{$rrjeshti['Pgj4']}</li></ul>";
  echo "<br/><br/>";

This is the problem

  echo "<input type=\"text\" size=\"15\" name='$count'/>";
  echo "<br/><br/>";
  array_push($zgjidhjet,$rrjeshti['Pgjsakt']);
  $nrpyetjeve=$nrpyetjeve-1;
  $nrpyetjarandom=rand(1,$nrrjeshta);
  $count=$count+1;
}

Answer 1

If you use register_globals or try and extract() these variables, they are invalid, as PHP variables cannot start with a number (or be a number). You need to access the $_POST superglobal. A better approach would be to use an array:

echo "<input type=\"text\" size=\"15\" name='text[$count]'/>";

Then access as $_POST['text'][0] etc. Now all of your text inputs are grouped under the $_POST['text'] and you can group checkboxes etc. as well. You could then extract() these (not recommended).

Answer 2

"Register globals" will only work if the array keys of $_POST et al. are valid variable names.

For example, if you have <input name="foo-bar" />, you can't expect $foo-bar to come out as a variable. Instead, use $_POST['foo-bar'].

In your case, it would be $_POST['0'], $_POST['1'] and so on.

In general, relying on "Register globals" is a bad idea.