Please recommend a smart, elegant way to write these repetitive 'if' statements in php

Answer 1

Use the in_array() function to write you condition:

<?php if (in_array($mycat, array("animation", "direction", "grading")))

Answer 2

Path 1:

<?php if ($mycat == "animation" || $mycat == "direction" || $mycat == "grading"){ 

Path 2:

<?php if (in_array($mycat,array("animation","direction","grading"))) {

Answer 3

Create an array holding the values, then test if the value of $mycat exists in the array. Also, you're echoing the link whatever $mycat is, so the else statement can be completely dropped and the if structure further simplified to just the following:

$categories = array(
    'animation', 
    'direction', 
    'grading', 
    'online', 
    'showcase', 
    'showreel', 
    'vfx'
);

if (in_array($mycat, $categories)) {
    $_SESSION["theCategory"] = $mycat;
}

?>
<a href="<?php bloginfo('home')?>/category/<?php echo $_SESSION["theCategory"];?>"><?php echo $_SESSION["theCategory"];?></a>

And like others have said, remember to escape your output.

Answer 4

Something like this?

<?php
$cats = array(
    'animation',
    'direction',
    'grading',
    'online',
    'showcase',
    'showreel'
    'vfx',
);
if ( in_array($mycat, $cats) ) :
    $_SESSION['theCategory'] = $mycat; ?>
    <a href="<?php bloginfo('home')?>/category/<?php echo $mycat;?>"><?php echo $mycat;?></a>
<?php else: ?>
    <a href="<?php bloginfo('home')?>/category/<?php echo $_SESSION["theCategory"];?>"><?php echo $_SESSION["theCategory"];?></a>
<?php endif; ?>

Answer 5

I don't understand why you even need a conditional here. You're not changing anything inside each conditional possibility.

$_SESSION["theCategory"] = $mycat;
<a href="<?php bloginfo('home')?>/category/<?php echo $_SESSION["theCategory"];?>"><?php echo $_SESSION["theCategory"];?></a>

Answer 6

And using the switch statement:

switch($mycat) {
    case 'animation':
    case 'direction':
    case 'grading':
    case 'online':
    case 'showcase':
    case 'showreel':
    case 'vfx':
        $_SESSION["theCategory"] = $mycat; 
    default:
        ?>
        <a href="<?php bloginfo('home')?>/category/<?php echo $_SESSION["theCategory"];?>"><?php echo $_SESSION["theCategory"];?></a>
        <?php
}

Note the fall-through after the case statements. You could either do that, or:

switch($mycat) {
    case 'animation':
    case 'direction':
    case 'grading':
    case 'online':
    case 'showcase':
    case 'showreel':
    case 'vfx':
        $_SESSION["theCategory"] = $mycat; 
}
?>
<a href="<?php bloginfo('home')?>/category/<?php echo $_SESSION["theCategory"];?>"><?php echo $_SESSION["theCategory"];?></a>
<?php