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From: Richard Damon <news.x.richarddamon@xoxy.net>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.php
Subject: Re: Why Can't I "define" a Value for a Subscript?
Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2011 20:26:09 -0400
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On 8/28/11 4:57 PM, eBob.com wrote:
>
> "Chuck Anderson" <cycletourist@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
> news:j3e62a$p8k$1@dont-email.me...
>> eBob.com wrote:
>>> I am working with some csv files. To make the program more
>>> maintainable and more self-documenting I "define" values to use as
>>> subscripts; e.g. ...
>>>
>>> define('SS2KEY',0);
>>>
>>> BUT, whereas this produces what I expected ...
>>>
>>> echo "we have a match - key: $file2cols[0]\n";
>>>
>>> ... this does not ...
>>>
>>> echo "we have a match - key: $file2cols[SS2KEY]\n";
>>>
>>> I see the other text but no value is substitited for $file2cols[SS2KEY]
>>>
>>> I've wasted so much time on this. Why can't I define constants to use
>>> as subscripts?
>>>
>>> Thanks, Bob
>>
>> Php does not look for constants within double quotes.
>>
>> http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.types.array.php
>> (Look for "Array do's and don'ts" - scroll down a wee bit for examples)
>>
>> --
>> *****************************
>> Chuck Anderson • Boulder, CO
>> http://cycletourist.com
>> Turn Off, Tune Out, Drop In
>> *****************************
>
> OUCH!!!!!!! But thanks! Now if I can only remember this "feature".
>
> Thanks, Bob

To understand why it is this way, just think about this program:

define('Hello', 'Goodbye cruel');
echo "Hello World";

Just looking at the echo statement, you should know what is printed, and 
not need to scan the whole program to make sure nothing is going to 
change your string.

if you see

echo "Hello $name";

the $ make it clear that the following will be substituted so there is 
no surprise (if you know the language rules).