I'm having trouble getting my $X $Y and $Z variables declared and usable. The mySQL information has been changed for protection, but rest assure that's all working. So here are the two functions from the code.

Code:

<?php
function doSomething()
{
$con = mysql_connect("localhost","hostname","password");
if (!$con)
  {
  die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
  }
mysql_select_db("database", $con);
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM Users WHERE thisField='1'");
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))
  {
  $X=$row['X'];
  $Y=$row['Y'];
  $Z=$row['Z'];
  thisUser();
  }
mysql_close($con);
}
function thisUser()
{
echo $X;
echo $Y;
echo $Z;
}
?>

So when I execute this, nothing is echoed. Any ideas?

Also, a second question for bonus points. My code has an ample amount of mysql_connect and mysql_close. Would this be more/less efficient or equal as opening from the start and not closing til the end/indefinitely?

Variables declared inside of a function are scoped to that function. You need to declare them before you run the function or make them global. This manual page explains it pretty clearly.

Ah yes, scope. I'm pretty sure the global keyword will resolve this one. Thank you

or instead of using global variables, another option is to pass the row to the function and then get the data you need from it and echo it.