<div>
$num is only available within your function. You need something like this:<br />
<br />
<br />

<pre><code id="code-20-39470109-1">$answer = add(3,4);
echo $answer;</code></pre>
</div>


$num is only available within your function. You need something like this:




$answer = add(3,4);
echo $answer;

<div>
If you don't need to assign it, then:<br />
<br />

<pre><code id="code-20-39470112-1">echo add(3,4);</code></pre>
</div>


If you don't need to assign it, then:



echo add(3,4);

<div>
I thought the whole point of &quot;return&quot; was to make sure something could be used OUTSIDE the function?
</div>


I thought the whole point of "return" was to make sure something could be used OUTSIDE the function?

<div>
If I return &quot;$num&quot; shouldn't $num be available outside the variable?
</div>


If I return "$num" shouldn't $num be available outside the variable?

<div>
<a href="https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/28206429/Need-a-simple-concept-in-PHP-explained-to-me-please.html" rel="ugc">https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/28206429/Need-a-simple-concept-in-PHP-explained-to-me-please.html</a>
</div>


https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/28206429/Need-a-simple-concept-in-PHP-explained-to-me-please.html [https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/28206429/Need-a-simple-concept-in-PHP-explained-to-me-please.html]

<div>
<div class="content wysiwyg-content">
Don't understand why this isn't working. &nbsp;When run, I get nothing in the browser.<br />
<br />
<br />

<pre><code id="code-10-28232550-1">&lt;?php


function add ($x, $y) {
	$num = $x + $y;
	return $num;
}

add(3,4);

echo $num;


?&gt;</code></pre>
</div>
</div>


Don't understand why this isn't working.  When run, I get nothing in the browser.


(CODE)

Why doesn't this code work?

PHP is a widely-used server-side scripting language especially suited for web development, powering tens of millions of sites from Facebook to personal WordPress blogs. PHP is often paired with the MySQL relational database, but includes support for most other mainstream databases. By utilizing different Server APIs, PHP can work on many different web servers as a server-side scripting language.