<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
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<refentry xml:id="function.compact" xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook">
 <refnamediv>
  <refname>compact</refname>
  <refpurpose>Create array containing variables and their values</refpurpose>
 </refnamediv>
 <refsect1 role="description">
  &reftitle.description;
  <methodsynopsis>
   <type>array</type><methodname>compact</methodname>
   <methodparam><type>mixed</type><parameter>varname</parameter></methodparam>
   <methodparam choice="opt"><type>mixed</type><parameter>...</parameter></methodparam>
  </methodsynopsis>
  <para>
   Creates an array containing variables and their values.
  </para>
  <para>
   For each of these, <function>compact</function> looks for a
   variable with that name in the current symbol table and adds it
   to the output array such that the variable name becomes the key
   and the contents of the variable become the value for that key.
   In short, it does the opposite of <function>extract</function>.
  </para>
  <para>
   Any strings that are not set will simply be skipped.
  </para>
 </refsect1>
 <refsect1 role="parameters">
  &reftitle.parameters;
  <para>
   <variablelist>
    <varlistentry>
     <term><parameter>varname</parameter></term>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       <function>compact</function> takes a variable number of parameters.
       Each parameter can be either a string containing the name of the
       variable, or an array of variable names.  The array can contain other
       arrays of variable names inside it; <function>compact</function>
       handles it recursively.
      </para>
     </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
   </variablelist>
  </para>
 </refsect1>
 <refsect1 role="returnvalues">
  &reftitle.returnvalues;
  <para>
   Returns the output array with all the variables added to it.
  </para>
 </refsect1>
 <refsect1 role="examples">
  &reftitle.examples;
  <para>
   <example>
    <title><function>compact</function> example</title>
    <programlisting role="php">
<![CDATA[
<?php
$city  = "San Francisco";
$state = "CA";
$event = "SIGGRAPH";

$location_vars = array("city", "state");

$result = compact("event", "nothing_here", $location_vars);
print_r($result);
?>
]]>
    </programlisting>
    &example.outputs;
    <screen role="php">
<![CDATA[
Array
(
    [event] => SIGGRAPH
    [city] => San Francisco
    [state] => CA
)
]]>
    </screen>
   </example>
  </para>
 </refsect1>
 <refsect1 role="notes">
  &reftitle.notes;
  <note>
   <title>Gotcha</title>
   <para>
    Because <link linkend="language.variables.variable">variable
    variables</link> may not be used with PHP's
    <link linkend="language.variables.superglobals">Superglobal
    arrays</link> within functions, the Superglobal arrays may not be passed
    into <function>compact</function>.
   </para>
  </note>
 </refsect1>
 <refsect1 role="seealso">
  &reftitle.seealso;
  <para>
   <simplelist>
    <member><function>extract</function></member>
   </simplelist>
  </para>
 </refsect1>
</refentry>

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