PHP array value to variable

Question

I'm using the following piece of code to count the number of locations from a table:

$result = mysqli_query($conn,"SELECT location FROM table ORDER BY location");

$aloc_list = array();
while ($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result))
        {$aloc_list[] = $row['location'];
        }

print_r(array_count_values($aloc_list));

Which gives me the following array:

Array
(
    [CANADA] => 106
    [USA] => 547
    [MEXICO] => 93
    [GREAT_BRITAIN] => 111
    [EASTERN_EUROPE] => 227
    [RUSSIA] => 405
    [CHINA] => 341
    [INDIA] => 253
)

I have tried to 'extract' the array values and put them in a variable but nothing seems to work:

$canada = $aloc_list[0];
$canada = $aloc_list['CANADA'];
$canada = $aloc_list[0]['CANADA'];
$canada = $aloc_list[0];

I want to end up with a variable called $canada equal to 106, a variable called $usa equal to 547, etc.

How do I accomplish this?

Answer 1

If you don't want to change your query, you can store the result of array_count_values($aloc_list) and use it to extract the datas. You can use variables variables to generate dynamically variables, but I don't recommend this. You might want to check if variable exists before using it. (isset())

$aloc_list_count = array_count_values($aloc_list);
var_dump($aloc_list_count);
/*
Outputs
array (size=8)
    'CANADA' => int 106
    'USA' => int 547
    'MEXICO' => int 93
    'GREAT_BRITAIN' => int 111
    'EASTERN_EUROPE' => int 227
    'RUSSIA' => int 405
    'CHINA' => int 341
    'INDIA' => int 253
*/
foreach ($aloc_list_count AS $key => $value)
    ${strtolower($key)} = $value;
echo $canada; //106
echo $usa;    //547
echo $france; //Notice: Undefined variable: france in...

Or you can use extract function to achieve that

extract($aloc_list_count);

Answer 2

You are trying to select the mentioned values from the original $aloc_list array - but they don't directly exist in there. They're the result of the call to array_count_values($aloc_list) - this produces a new array, and you need to read from that instead.

For example:

$counts = array_count_values($aloc_list);
$canada = $counts['CANADA'];
echo $canada;