Title: Save foreach data in single variable
Last modified: August 20, 2016

---

# Save foreach data in single variable

 *  Resolved [Jess](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jessn/)
 * (@jessn)
 * [14 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/save-foreach-data-in-single-variable/)
 * I have a foreach loop pulling up a list of posts. What I want to do is store 
   the results in a single variable so that I can just echo $total-posts and it 
   will pull up a list of everything. I’m sure it’s something fairly simple that
   I just don’t know how to do. Here is my foreach loop:
 *     ```
       global $post;
       $args = array( 'numberposts' => 500, 'offset'=> 1, 'post_type' => 'apples', );
       $myposts = get_posts( $args );
       $count = 0;
   
       foreach( $myposts as $post ) :	setup_postdata($post);  $count++;
   
       	$item = '"'.$post->post_name.'" => "'.$count.'"';
   
       endforeach;
       ```
   
 * After this I’d like to be able to echo some variable, outside of of the loop,
   and display a list of all the $item values…
 * Can anyone help? Thank you!

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

 *  Moderator [keesiemeijer](https://wordpress.org/support/users/keesiemeijer/)
 * (@keesiemeijer)
 * [14 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/save-foreach-data-in-single-variable/#post-2466619)
 * Not sure what you want to do? do you want an array with all the post titles?
 *  Thread Starter [Jess](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jessn/)
 * (@jessn)
 * [14 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/save-foreach-data-in-single-variable/#post-2466667)
 * Yeah basically. What I have now will spit out a list like this:
 *     ```
       'post-slug' => '1',
       'post-slug' => '2',
       'post-slug' => '3'
       ```
   
 * And I want to insert that info into a select menu in a write panel I’m building.
 *     ```
       "options" => array(
       			"1" => "1",
       			"2" => "2",
       			"3" => "3"
       )
       ```
   
 * So somehow I want to save the list of posts in a variable, perhaps called $postlist
   and then echo it like so:
 *     ```
       "options" => array(
       	echo $postlist
       )
       ```
   
 * Of course I don’t even know if that will work but that’s the idea…First I’m just
   trying to figure out how to save the list of posts into a single variable.
 *  Thread Starter [Jess](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jessn/)
 * (@jessn)
 * [14 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/save-foreach-data-in-single-variable/#post-2466714)
 * Ah! I did it!
 *     ```
       global $post;
       $args = array( 'numberposts' => 500, 'offset'=> 1, 'post_type' => 'apples', );
       $myposts = get_posts( $args );
       $count = 0;
   
       $fruit = array();
       foreach( $myposts as $post ) :	setup_postdata($post);  $count++;
   
       	$item = '"'.$count.'" => "'.$post->post_name.'",';
       	$fruit[] = $item;
       endforeach;
       ```
   
 * Now I can type print_r($fruit); and it will list out the foreach loop results.
   Yay!
 * Now what I”m trying to figure out is how to echo that into an options array… 
   This isn’t working:
 *     ```
       "options" => array(
       	print_r($fruit);
       )
       ```
   
 *  Moderator [keesiemeijer](https://wordpress.org/support/users/keesiemeijer/)
 * (@keesiemeijer)
 * [14 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/save-foreach-data-in-single-variable/#post-2466776)
 * > Now what I”m trying to figure out is how to echo that into an options array…
   > This isn’t working
 * I think what you want is just this in the foreach:
 *     ```
       $fruit[] = $post->post_name;
       ```
   
 * This will give you an array like this
 *     ```
       array('banana','apple');
       ```
   
 * Which will print as:
 *     ```
       Array
       (
           [0] => banana
           [1] => apple
       )
       ```
   
 * This is called an indexed Array.
    You can also create arrays this way:
 *     ```
       $my_array['fruit'] = 'apple';
       $my_array['veggie'] = 'carrot';
       ```
   
 * Which is the same as:
 *     ```
       $my_array = array('fruit' => 'apple', 'veggie' => 'carrot');
       ```
   
 * and will print as
 *     ```
       Array
       (
           [fruit] => apple
           [veggie] => carrot
       )
       ```
   
 * This is called an associative array
 * [http://php.net/manual/en/language.types.array.php](http://php.net/manual/en/language.types.array.php)
   
   [http://www.tizag.com/phpT/arrays.php](http://www.tizag.com/phpT/arrays.php)
 * I hope this helps.
 *  Thread Starter [Jess](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jessn/)
 * (@jessn)
 * [14 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/save-foreach-data-in-single-variable/#post-2466883)
 * Ah nice! So much to learn. I redid things a bit thanks to your helpful links 
   and here is what I eventually came up with. The goal was to find a list of posts
   within a custom post type, store that list into an array, and output the array
   as options within a select menu.
 * This parts grabs a list of the posts:
 *     ```
       global $post;
       $args = array( 'numberposts' => 500, 'offset'=> 1, 'post_type' => 'apples', );
       $myposts = get_posts( $args );
   
       $fruit = array();
       foreach( $myposts as $post ) :	setup_postdata($post);
       	$fruit[] = $post->post_name;
       endforeach;
       ```
   
 * Then within the code for the select menu in the custom write panel I have:
 *     ```
       array(
                   'name' => 'Type of Fruit',
                   'desc' => '<b>Select your favorite fruit</b>',
                   'id' => $prefix . 'fruit_type',
                   'type' => 'select',
       	     "options" => $fruit,
                   'std' => ''
               ),
       ```
   
 * Super awesome! Thank you for your help!
 *  Moderator [keesiemeijer](https://wordpress.org/support/users/keesiemeijer/)
 * (@keesiemeijer)
 * [14 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/save-foreach-data-in-single-variable/#post-2466885)
 * You’re welcome. Glad you got it resolved.

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

The topic ‘Save foreach data in single variable’ is closed to new replies.

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 6 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [keesiemeijer](https://wordpress.org/support/users/keesiemeijer/)
 * Last activity: [14 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/save-foreach-data-in-single-variable/#post-2466885)
 * Status: resolved

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