Parse error thrown by get_post_meta [closed]

Question

in a custom plugin I am developing, I am getting this error as soon as I activate the plugin:

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '[' in /home/site/public_html/wp-content/plugins/my_plugin/plugin.php on line 106

I have hunted down the exact line throwing the fatal error:

$gallery_pictures_id = get_post_meta( $product_id, '_product_image_gallery')[0];

It's worth noting that this line works both in local development and on a staging server.

Why is this happening? What is so weird about it?

Answer 1

This is known as array dereferencing and is only available in PHP 5.4+

To support older versions, you need to assign the array, and then access the index:

$data = get_post_meta( $product_id, '_product_image_gallery' );
$gallery_pictures_id = $data[0];

Having said that, in your case use the third argument "single":

$gallery_pictures_id = get_post_meta( $product_id, '_product_image_gallery', true );