Can't access form data in PHP

Question

I'm not a novice, but I'm not an expert either; I'm a keen learner.

Problem (minimalised) - I have a basic form which posts a name to another page which is supposed to receive name and print name. Code of both forms is below.

Form:

<?php
    echo "Hello, World!";
    echo "
        <form action='CFAcomments.php' method='POST'>
            <table style='width: 50%;' border='0'>
                <tbody>
                    <tr>
                        <td><label for='name'>name: </label></td>
                        <td><input type='Text' name='name' value='anon' /></td>
                    </tr>
                    <tr>
                        <td><input type='submit' name='send' value='Send' /></td>
                    </tr>
                </tbody>
            </table>
        </form>
    ";
?>

Form Process:

<?php
    echo "Hello, World 1!";
    echo "<br/>";
    var_dump($_POST);
    $name = $_POST("name");
    echo "Hello $name!";
?>

Result:

Hello, World 1!
array(2) { ["name"]=> string(11) "anon" ["send"]=> string(4) "Send" }

Problem:

Even though var_dump($_POST) shows data being sent, echo $name print nothing. Changing echo $name to echo "test" prints nothing too. The code seems to stop executing at $name = $_post("name");. If I remove this line echo "anything" works.

I've used PHP and forms for the last two years and never come across this. Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Array keys are referenced with square brackets, not parentheses.

$name = $_POST("name");

// Should be
$name = $_POST["name"];

Answer 2

That's because you're not using the right brackets. It has to be:

$_POST['name'];