function php with while loop

Question

Hello i am trying to make function with while loop in php but cant getting write here is my code

 function mail_detail($mail_detail){

    $data= mysql_query("select * from messages where messages.to = '$mail_detail' and to_viewed = 0 ORDER BY messages.id DESC");
    while ($result= mysql_fetch_array($data)){
    return $result;
    }

}

and out put is

$mail_detail= mail_detail($userid)
echo '<li class="read">

               <a href="#">
                 <span class="message">'. $mail_detail['title'].'</span>
                    <span class="time">
                       January 21, 2012
                   </span>
                                </a>
        </li>';

i am not getting all values just getting one value please help thx

Answer 1

The return statement is terminating your loop and exiting the function.

To get all values, add them to an array in the loop, and then return the array. Like this:

$results = array();

while ($result = mysql_fetch_array($data)) {
    $results[] = $result;   
}

return $results;

on the side that receives the array

$msgArray = mail_detail($mail_detail);

foreach($msgArray as $msg) {
    //use $msg
}

To add on, a function is only able to return once (except for some special circumstances that you should not worry about). Therefore, the first time your function comes across a return statement, it returns the value and exits.

This functionality of return can often be used to your advantage. For example:

function doSomething($code = NULL) 
{
    if ($code === NULL) {
        return false;
    }

    //any code below this comment will only be reached if $code is not null
    // if it is null, the above returns statement will prevent control from reaching 
    // this point

    writeToDb($code);
}