Variable Scope Question PHP

Question

In the following code the variable does not seem to be getting set. Seems simple enough but for some reason this is vexing me.

function teasertext($string){
    $tstring = "";
    if (strlen($string)>9){
        $tstring .= substr($string,0,9) . "....";
    }
    else
    {
        $tstring .= $string;
    }
}
print $tstring;
return $tstring;

Answer 1

I placed the variables outside of the function. Silly mistake.

Answer 2

print $tstring;
return $tstring;

is outside of the function block.

function teasertext($string){
    $tstring = "";
    if (strlen($string)>9){
        $tstring .= substr($string,0,9) . "....";
    }
    else
    {
        $tstring .= $string;
    }
    print $tstring;
    return $tstring;
}

Should return $tstring properly.