How to access the value of variable `a` in first php script to second php script and linked by ajax call

Question

Example: my code in first php script:

<?php
$a = array('green','yello','blue');

Then in my second script:

<?php
echo $a; //display the value based on my first script

jQuery-AJAX links the two scripts

PURPOSE:

I have navigation bar in my web page that has 3 menu/option. Once i click one of the menu, i'll send it's index to the second script using this code $(this).closest('li').index() (which works correctly). then the second script will check the value of the index being sent....the index will serve as the key of the array...

PROBLEM:

Can't get the value (array) of $a in my second script

NOTE:

Can't I use only one script since i want to catgorize the scripts.....this is only small part of my project

Answer 1

The PHP variables are available always only within one request. New request means new scope and the variables set up in the previous script were forgotten. To keep a value across multiple requests, you may use for example session.

Solution with sessions

Script 1

session_start();
$_SESSION['a'] = array('green','yello','blue');

Script 2

session_start();
$a = array('green','yello','blue');

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Solution with require()

The other option would be to include the script 1 where the array is declared and initialized to the script 2 (and to all other script where you need the array).

Script 1

$a = array();

Script 2

require('script1.php');
$b = $a; // feel free to use the array $a here

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Solution with passing the array to the client and back

Yet another solution (even though most likely not a good one) would be to use json_encode($a) to encode the array as a json, send it to the client and then in the ajax request send the array back to the server to the script 2. Script 2 would parse the json using json_decode().