declaring a big list of variables

Question

I have a big list of variables:

$variable_1 = $_POST['variable_1'];
$variable_2 = $_POST['variable_2'];
$variable_3 = $_POST['variable_3'];
$variable_4 = $_POST['variable_4'];
...
..
.
$variable_86 = $_POST['variable_86'];

What would be the best way to declare all of these variables? Should I just declare them all like above, should I put them in an array, can I declare using a loop?

Answer 1

for ($i = 0; $i <= 86; $i++){
     if (isset($_POST["variable_$i"]))
     ${'variable'.$i} = $_POST["variable_$i"];
}

See this question to learn about Dynamic Variable names.

EDIT: Added the isset command. isset() checks whether a variable is already declared or not

Answer 2

You can use any of the following:

foreach($var as $key=>$value) {
echo $value;
}

and/or:

foreach($_POST['var'] as $key=>$value) {
echo $value;

You could use this also, that will iterate through all POST values:

foreach($_POST as $key=>$value) {
echo "$key=$value";
} 

Also, assuming $_POST['variable_1'] $_POST['variable_2'] etc.

foreach($_POST as $k => $v) {
    if(strpos($k, 'variable_') === 0) {
        echo "$k = $v";
    }
}