Assign variables and display results

    <?php 
$somevariable = echo $anothervar;
?>

i get a T_ECHO unexpected error . what is the right way of accomplishing the above task?

I am extending this question 开发者_运维知识库a little bit :

<?php
    $num_posts = get_option($shortname.'_num_posts');
     $args = array(
            'posts_per_page' => $num_posts,
            'post_type' => 'post'
                   );
?>

This is a bit of wordpress code . The *get_option* function doesn't echo the value , so i tried

<?php
    $num_posts = echo get_option($shortname.'_num_posts');
     $args = array(
            'posts_per_page' => $num_posts,
            'post_type' => 'post'
                   );
?>

and i messed it . what is the right way to do it ?

I don't know what you are trying to do. echo is a language construct, so returns nothing, so its return value cannot be assigned.

If you want to echo a value and assign it to another variable, it is best (most legible) to do it in two statements:

<?php

echo $anothervar;
$somevariable = $anothervar;

?>

It should just be

<?php $somevariable = $anothervar; ?>

What you are trying to do? If you want print, the code is:

<?php 
$somevariable = $anothervar;
?>

If you want to assign the value of the another var, the code is:

<?php 
echo $anothervar;
$somevariable = $anothervar;
?>

In order for you to catch any data from the function get_option you most return it from within the function itself:

<?php
function get_option($var){
    return $var; 
}

$num_posts = get_option($shortname.'_num_posts');

 //outputs what ever was returned from the function
 echo $num_posts;

?>