# Automatically updated server variable with Frontend output

**URL:** <https://www.phphelp.com/t/automatically-updated-server-variable-with-frontend-output/33152>\
**Category:** Help with WordPress\
**Created:** [February 18, 2021, 3:16pm UTC](https://www.phphelp.com/t/automatically-updated-server-variable-with-frontend-output/33152 "2021-02-18T15:16:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Chris3](https://www.phphelp.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/65b543/32.png) [@Chris3](https://www.phphelp.com/u/Chris3)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2021, 3:16pm UTC](https://www.phphelp.com/t/automatically-updated-server-variable-with-frontend-output/33152/1 "2021-02-18T15:16:33Z")

</div>

Hi,  
Sorry I searched so much but got no answer in the www. I need to do the following (simplified):

1. Define a variable with init value (e.g. 500)
2. Make a calculation each day and alter the variable (eg. add 100)
3. Display that variable in the frontend in elementor

It seems so easy, but in detail I struggle a lot. My idea was to a define a global variable in functions.php, add a cron job with calls a function each day in functions.php. Then add a shortcode to a function that returns the global variable and insert that shortcode into elementor. All works but not the alter of the variable. I miss something fundamental I think, as I am a newbie…

global $clients;  
$clients = 500;

function cron\_update() {  
global $clients;  
$clients += 100;  
}  
function get\_clients() {  
global $clients;  
return $clients;  
}  
add\_shortcode(‘GETCLIENTS’, ‘get\_clients’);

I always get 500 as a result. Also after several cron jobs. I think the functions.php is called on each pageload so the init of the var is overwritten each time. How can I avoid that?

I also tried:

if (!isset($clients)){  
global $clients;  
$clients = 500;  
}

but it seems also that it does it on each reload. So how can I define real global variables which stays intact?

I tried with GLOBALS but also no success…

Thank you,  
Chris

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![skawid](https://www.phphelp.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@skawid](https://www.phphelp.com/u/skawid)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2021, 4:28pm UTC](https://www.phphelp.com/t/automatically-updated-server-variable-with-frontend-output/33152/2 "2021-02-18T16:28:14Z")

</div>

PHP code itself isn’t persistent; you’ll need to store the number (in a file or the database for example) if you want it to persist.

You might not need to though. If you just want to show a higher number every day, you can do it as follows:

```php
// Your initial value
$start_number = 500;

// your increment
$increment_by = 100;

// The date on which your counter starts
$start_date = new DateTime('2021-02-18');

$time_since_start = $start_date->diff(new DateTime);

$current_value = 500 + $time_since_start->days * $increment_by;

```

`$current_value` will now be 500, plus 100 more for every day that passes after today.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Chris3](https://www.phphelp.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/65b543/32.png) [@Chris3](https://www.phphelp.com/u/Chris3)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2021, 9:20am UTC](https://www.phphelp.com/t/automatically-updated-server-variable-with-frontend-output/33152/3 "2021-02-19T09:20:03Z")

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hey thank you so much! You saved my day. Puhhh!  
You are right with calculating the number based on the date but this was a simplified problem. At the end I need to do calculations based on the current number. So how can I store that in the database? Is there some sort of CONSTANTs table or so in Wordpress?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![skawid](https://www.phphelp.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@skawid](https://www.phphelp.com/u/skawid)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2021, 2:48pm UTC](https://www.phphelp.com/t/automatically-updated-server-variable-with-frontend-output/33152/4 "2021-02-19T14:48:34Z")

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You want the [options API](https://developer.wordpress.org/plugins/settings/options-api/).

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Chris3](https://www.phphelp.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/65b543/32.png) [@Chris3](https://www.phphelp.com/u/Chris3)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2021, 7:38pm UTC](https://www.phphelp.com/t/automatically-updated-server-variable-with-frontend-output/33152/5 "2021-02-19T19:38:17Z")

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Thank you skawid. Great support…