Drupal 7 global $user variable

Question

Would appreciate it, if anyone can let me know how we can set the global $user variable, so that we don't have to keep re-declaring it in each function, to access its contents. How can we declare it so that all the functions in a module can use it?

Answer 1

The type of global you're looking for (available always, in every scope) is called a superglobal in PHP. You cannot declare new superglobals, but you can access all globals directly because they are part of the $GLOBAL superglobal. In other words, you can use $GLOBALS['user'] to access the $user global directly.

See also create superglobal variables in php? for more info and alternative methods.