Scope of PHP function

Question

I have a file that corrals my re-usable functions into one file (functions.php). It\'s include_once()\'d on every page that needs it. I\'m getting

Answer 1

Use the global keyword.

Example

function getmotd($user) {  
     global $connect;
    $query = "SELECT cid FROM `users`
    WHERE id = ".$user;
    $query = mysql_query($query, $connect); // error occurs here, $connect is not a valid MySQL link-resource
    /* ... */
}

You can also do it like this

function getmotd($user) {  
    $query = "SELECT cid FROM `users`
    WHERE id = ".$user;
    $query = mysql_query($query, $GLOBALS['connect']); // error occurs here, $connect is not a valid MySQL link-resource
    /* ... */
}

If you want to make re-usable codes, you'd probably be better off with OOP. Create a class for the database, and add some properties for the database info, and access them from the functions by using the this keyword.