Assigning Array Value to variable PHP

Question

bit new to PHP I've been playing around a bit with it but I am unsure how to assign the string value of an array to a variable and print it. Currently it is only displaying the array number rather than it's data.

Any help/explanation appreciated

My current code is:

<?php

$family_friends = array();

array_push($family_friends, "James ");
array_push($family_friends, "Patrick");
array_push($family_friends, "Kevin");
array_push($family_friends, "Miles");
array_push($family_friends, "Reuben");

sort($family_friends);


// Randomly select a winner!

$winner = array_rand($family_friends, 1);

// Print the winner's name in ALL CAPS

strtoupper($winner);


echo " ". "Congratulations"." ".($winner) . "!";

?>

Answer 1

array_rand returns a random index , not a random element. You need to index into the array with its return value. You also need to assign the result of strtoupper to a variable. So:

strtoupper($winner);

Becomes:

$winner = strtoupper($family_friends[$winner]);

Answer 2

array_rand returns an index, not an element. Therefore, you have to select the element of your array at the random index. Like this

strtoupper($family_friends[$winner]);

If $winner equals zero, $family_friends[$winner] equals "James".