How to create a php variable using Wordpress the_title() function

Question

I want to create a php variable which will use the the_title function:

So if the title of the post is "Style" the variable will name will be $style and if the post title is "Dog" the variable name will be $Dog.

Is it possible?

I tried ${the_title()};

But it echoes the title.

My goal is to use at as a dynamic variable inside a each loop and increase it's number every time it gets the same title. so for example for each post with unique title it will be set to '1' but if a title repeats a second time it will be set to '2' and so on...

Answer 1

Indeed, the the_title function echoes the title, unless you set the third parameter to false (default true). So you start with this;

$title = the_title ('','',false);

Now, $title may contain all kinds of characters that cannot be used in PHP variable names, so we need some sanitization:

$title = preg_replace('/[^A-Za-z0-9\_]/', '', $title); // Removes special chars except underscore.

Then you use PHP variable variables to turn the content of $title into a variable name:

$$title = 'something';

So, if the_title gives the value "hello world", the $title variable after sanitizing has the value "helloworld" and $helloworld has the value "something".

Answer 2

so for example for each post with unique title it will be set to '1' but if a title repeats a second time it will be set to '2' and so on...

Use array_count_values() after casting titles in an array. Use the_title_attribute() with a false argument to get an esc_attr() & tag-stripped title. Be mindful of regex used with preg_replace or you can end up with false matches. After setting array_count_values(), a foreach loop using as $key => $value can use complex syntax to create variable names based on $key (aka post_title): ${'_'. $key} = $value.

---

Once you have all post objects, loop through them.

Getting title

You can use the_title_attribute(), since it runs title through esc_attr();

$title_cleaned = the_title_attribute( array( 'echo' => false, );  
//OR: $post->post_title for raw from object

---

Side Note: Alternatively, from the object you can get the raw title from $post->post_title

foreach ($posts as $post) { 
    $title_cleaned = esc_attr( $post->post_title ) 
    }

---

Trim, sanitize, preg_replace

remove any leading or ending extra spaces and force type to string

$title_cleaned = (string) trim( $post );

remove any non-alphanumeric space, leaving spaces

$title_cleaned = preg_replace( '/[^a-zA-Z0-9 ]*/', '', $title_cleaned );

change spaces to underscores

$title_cleaned = preg_replace( '/\s+/', '_', $title_cleaned );

cast value to array

$array_of_titles[] = $title_cleaned;

// loop end

---

Get count

Use array_count_values() to cast key => values of post_title => count

$counted_array = array_count_values( $array_of_titles );

The value of $counted_array will be something like:

Array (
    [ Style ] => 3
    [ Dog ] => 1
    )

---

Setting ${'_'. $key} = $value

Set keys to variable names, adding an underscore to avoid numbers starting variable name

foreach( $counted_array as $key => $value ) {
    ${'_'. $key} = (int) $value;
  }

Example of all the above together:

foreach ($posts as $post ) {
    $title_cleaned = the_title_attribute( array( 'echo' => false, );  
    $title_cleaned = (string) trim( $title_cleaned );
    $title_cleaned = preg_replace( '/[^a-zA-Z0-9 ]*/', '', $title_cleaned );
    $title_cleaned = preg_replace( '/\s+/', '_', $title_cleaned );
    $array_of_titles[] = $title_cleaned;
}

$counted_array = array_count_values( $array_of_titles );

foreach( $counted_array as $key => $value ) {
    ${'_'. $key} = (int) $value;
  }

---

Example mockup

This php file can be used outside WP to see what I mean regarding the title to regex stuff.

<?php
//using array below as a mock response of titles after passing through esc_attr
$faux_the_title_attribute = array( ' My Styles &amp Colors ', 'My Style&#039s Colors', 'My Styles: Colors', 'My Styles: Colors', 'My Styles: Colors' );
foreach ($faux_the_title_attribute as $pt ) {
    //$title_cleaned = the_title_attribute( array( 'echo' => false, );
    $title_cleaned = (string) trim( $pt );
    $title_cleaned = preg_replace( '/[^a-zA-Z0-9 ]*/', '', $title_cleaned );
    $title_cleaned = preg_replace( '/\s+/', '_', $title_cleaned );
    //My Styles & Colors = My_Styles_amp_Colors

    $array_of_titles[] = $title_cleaned; 

}

$counted_array = array_count_values( $array_of_titles );

foreach( $counted_array as $key => $value ) {
    // ${'_'. $key} = $key . '_' . $value;
    //becomes $_My_Styles_amp_Colors = _My_Styles_amp_Colors_3;
    ${'_'. $key} = (int) $value;
    //becomes $_My_Styles_Colors = 3;
}

printf( $_My_Styles_amp_Colors );

?>

---

A note on regex, post title strings to ${$title}, and potential issues

You would need to prepend these in the event of a post_title beginning with a numerical, since php variables must begin with a letter or underscore.

Depending on how you are getting the titles, get_title() as called by the_title(), or the object from get_post may not have filters applied.

While a regex like [^a-zA-Z0-9]* will remove all non alphanumeric, without esc_attr() to htmlencode them first (i.e. with a get_post() using default raw filter), the returned strings "My Styles & Colors", "My Style's Colors", or "My Styles: Colors" would all be MyStylesColors after the preg_replace.

However after esc_attr():

My Styles & Colors = My Styles &amp Colors
My Style's Colors  = My Style&#039s Colors 
My Styles: Colors  = My Styles: Colors

After esc_attr() and regex preg_replace:

My Styles & Colors = MyStylesampColors
My Style's Colors  = MyStyle039sColors 
My Styles: Colors  = MyStylesColors

However, removing the whitespace in the expression (by not including it, i.e. [^a-zA-Z0-9 ]*), causes the following possible issues:

My Styles & le Colors  = MyStylesampleColors
My Style sample Colors = MyStylesampleColors

Adding whitespace to approved regex, and using second preg_replace('/\s+/', '_', $string); to swap whitespace to underscores:

$title_cleaned = (string) the_title_attribute( array( 'echo' => false );
$title_cleaned = preg_replace( '/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/', '', $title_cleaned );
$title_cleaned = preg_replace( '/\s+/', '_', $title_cleaned );
//My Styles & Colors = My_Styles_amp_Colors

But that will convert opening or closing whitespaces to underscores, so php's trim() can handle those before any preg_replace.

None of this enforces the start of the variable name be a letter or underscore (numbers being invalid to start php variables).

So a post title:

3 Best Styles = 3BestStyles = $3BestStyles

You could validate against ^[a-zA-Z_\x7f-\xff][a-zA-Z0-9_\x7f-\xff]*$, or prefix everything with an underscore. So continuing from above $title_cleaned example:

$title_cleaned = the_title_attribute( array( 'echo' => false, );  
$title_cleaned = (string) trim( $title_cleaned );
$title_cleaned = preg_replace( '/[^a-zA-Z0-9 ]*/', '', $title_cleaned );
$title_cleaned = preg_replace( '/\s+/', '_', $title_cleaned );
$array_of_titles[] = $title_cleaned;

---

There could be other issues not taken into consideration here, too.

Personally, if just needing to know those counts and be able to compare, order, etc., I would stop at the step with $counted_array = array_count_values( $array_of_titles ); and forgo the dynamic variable bit. IMO, of course.