Value prints outside of the echo

Question

My code validates and returns the custom field value. However, I can't get the value to return inside of the anchors.

Here is the code:

<div id="meta_mblink">
<?
if(function_exists('get_custom_field_data')) {
echo '<a href="'.get_custom_field_data('mblink', true).'"></a>';
} 
?>
</div>

This is what is returned:

<div id="meta_mblink">
http://yada.yadayada.yada:5000/pop.jsp?id=1711436
<a href=""></a>
</div>

Answer 1

This is how I would code this:

$url = get_post_meta( get_the_ID(), 'mblink', true );
if ( ! empty( $url ) ) {
    print '<a href="' . esc_url( $url ) . '">MBLINK</a>';
}

Answer 2

I suspect the problem is the custom function get_custom_field_data(). Can you post the function definition?

Most likely, the second argument corresponds to whether or not to echo the result. Try changing it to false?

EDIT

Here's an example of this function being defined in a tutorial:

<?php function get_custom_field_data($key, $echo = false) {
    global $post;
    $value = get_post_meta($post->ID, $key, true);
    if($echo == false) {
        return $value;
    } else { 
        echo $value;
    }
}
?>

I would recommend just using get_post_meta(), rather than using a wrapper function.

Answer 3

You need to set the second parameter to FALSE, (or just leave it blank) in the get_custom_field_data function. Do this:

<div id="meta_mblink">
 <?php
 if(function_exists('get_custom_field_data')) {
 ?>
 <a href="<?php echo get_custom_field_data('mblink'); ?>"></a>
 <?php
 }
  ?> 
</div>

Answer 4

<div id="meta_mblink">
 <?php
 if(function_exists('get_custom_field_data')) {
 ?>
 <a href="<?php echo get_custom_field_data('mblink', true); ?>"></a>
 <?php
 }
  ?> 
</div>

Maybe something like that? I recall having issues with echos busting out of html before and doing something like this worked for me