Booleans

This is the simplest type. A boolean expresses a truth value. It can be either TRUE or FALSE.

Note: The boolean type was introduced in PHP 4.

Syntax

To specify a boolean literal, use the keywords TRUE or FALSE. Both are case-insensitive.

<?php
$foo = True; // assign the value TRUE to $foo
?>
Typically, some kind of operator which returns a boolean value, and the value is passed on to a control structure.

<?php
// == is an operator which test
// equality and returns a boolean
if ($action == “show_version”) {
    echo “The version is 1.23″;
}

// this is not necessary…
if ($show_separators == TRUE) {
    echo “<hr>\n”;
}

// …because instead, this can be used:
if ($show_separators) {
    echo “<hr>\n”;
}
?>
Converting to boolean

To explicitly convert a value to boolean, use the (bool) or (boolean) casts. However, in most cases the cast is unncecessary, since a value will be automatically converted if an operator, function or control structure requires a boolean argument.

See also Type Juggling.

When converting to boolean, the following values are considered FALSE:

the boolean FALSE itself
the integer 0 (zero)
the float 0.0 (zero)
the empty string, and the string “0″
an array with zero elements
an object with zero member variables (PHP 4 only)
the special type NULL (including unset variables)
SimpleXML objects created from empty tags
Every other value is considered TRUE (including any resource).

Warning
-1 is considered TRUE, like any other non-zero (whether negative or positive) number!

<?php
var_dump((bool) “”);        // bool(false)
var_dump((bool) 1);         // bool(true)
var_dump((bool) -2);        // bool(true)
var_dump((bool) “foo”);     // bool(true)
var_dump((bool) 2.3e5);     // bool(true)
var_dump((bool) array(12)); // bool(true)
var_dump((bool) array());   // bool(false)
var_dump((bool) “false”);   // bool(true)
?>

Variable functions

PHP supports the concept of variable functions. This means that if a variable name has parentheses appended to it, PHP will look for a function with the same name as whatever the variable evaluates to, and will attempt to execute it. Among other things, this can be used to implement callbacks, function tables, and so forth.

Variable functions won’t work with language constructs such as echo(), print(), unset(), isset(), empty(), include(), require() and the like. Utilize wrapper functions to make use of any of these constructs as variable functions.

Example #1 Variable function example

<?php
function foo() {
    echo “In foo()<br />\n”;
}

function bar($arg = ”)
{
    echo “In bar(); argument was ‘$arg’.<br />\n”;
}

// This is a wrapper function around echo
function echoit($string)
{
    echo $string;
}

$func = ‘foo’;
$func();        // This calls foo()

$func = ‘bar’;
$func(’test’);  // This calls bar()

$func = ‘echoit’;
$func(’test’);  // This calls echoit()
?>
An object method can also be called with the variable functions syntax.

Example #2 Variable method example

<?php
class Foo
{
    function Variable()
    {
        $name = ‘Bar’;
        $this->$name(); // This calls the Bar() method
    }
   
    function Bar()
    {
        echo “This is Bar”;
    }
}

$foo = new Foo();
$funcname = “Variable”;
$foo->$funcname();  // This calls $foo->Variable()

?>
See also call_user_func(), variable variables and function_exists().

Returning values

Values are returned by using the optional return statement. Any type may be returned, including arrays and objects. This causes the function to end its execution immediately and pass control back to the line from which it was called. See return() for more information.

Example #1 Use of return()

<?php
function square($num)
{
    return $num * $num;
}
echo square(4);   // outputs ‘16′.
?>
A function can not return multiple values, but similar results can be obtained by returning an array.

Example #2 Returning an array to get multiple values

<?php
function small_numbers()
{
    return array (0, 1, 2);
}
list ($zero, $one, $two) = small_numbers();
?>
To return a reference from a function, use the reference operator & in both the function declaration and when assigning the returned value to a variable:

Example #3 Returning a reference from a function

<?php
function &returns_reference()
{
    return $someref;
}

$newref =& returns_reference();
?>
For more information on references, please check out References Explained.

Function arguments

Information may be passed to functions via the argument list, which is a comma-delimited list of expressions.

PHP supports passing arguments by value (the default), passing by reference, and default argument values. Variable-length argument lists are also supported, see also the function references for func_num_args(), func_get_arg(), and func_get_args() for more information.

Example #1 Passing arrays to functions

<?php
function takes_array($input)
{
    echo “$input[0] + $input[1] = “, $input[0]+$input[1];
}
?>
Making arguments be passed by reference

By default, function arguments are passed by value (so that if the value of the argument within the function is changed, it does not get changed outside of the function). To allow a function to modify its arguments, they must be passed by reference.

To have an argument to a function always passed by reference, prepend an ampersand (&) to the argument name in the function definition:

Example #2 Passing function parameters by reference

<?php
function add_some_extra(&$string)
{
    $string .= ‘and something extra.’;
}
$str = ‘This is a string, ‘;
add_some_extra($str);
echo $str;    // outputs ‘This is a string, and something extra.’
?>
Default argument values

A function may define C++-style default values for scalar arguments as follows:

Example #3 Use of default parameters in functions

<?php
function makecoffee($type = “cappuccino”)
{
    return “Making a cup of $type.\n”;
}
echo makecoffee();
echo makecoffee(null);
echo makecoffee(”espresso”);
?>
The output from the above snippet is:
Making a cup of cappuccino.
Making a cup of .
Making a cup of espresso.
PHP also allows the use of arrays and the special type NULL as default values, for example:

Example #4 Using non-scalar types as default values

<?php
function makecoffee($types = array(”cappuccino”), $coffeeMaker = NULL)
{
    $device = is_null($coffeeMaker) ? “hands” : $coffeeMaker;
    return “Making a cup of “.join(”, “, $types).” with $device.\n”;
}
echo makecoffee();
echo makecoffee(array(”cappuccino”, “lavazza”), “teapot”);
?>
The default value must be a constant expression, not (for example) a variable, a class member or a function call.

Note that when using default arguments, any defaults should be on the right side of any non-default arguments; otherwise, things will not work as expected. Consider the following code snippet:

Example #5 Incorrect usage of default function arguments

<?php
function makeyogurt($type = “acidophilus”, $flavour)
{
    return “Making a bowl of $type $flavour.\n”;
}
 
echo makeyogurt(”raspberry”);   // won’t work as expected
?>
The output of the above example is:
Warning: Missing argument 2 in call to makeyogurt() in
/usr/local/etc/httpd/htdocs/phptest/functest.html on line 41
Making a bowl of raspberry .
Now, compare the above with this:

Example #6 Correct usage of default function arguments

<?php
function makeyogurt($flavour, $type = “acidophilus”)
{
    return “Making a bowl of $type $flavour.\n”;
}
 
echo makeyogurt(”raspberry”);   // works as expected
?>
The output of this example is:
Making a bowl of acidophilus raspberry.
Note: As of PHP 5, default values may be passed by reference.

Variable-length argument lists

PHP 4 and above has support for variable-length argument lists in user-defined functions. This is really quite easy, using the func_num_args(), func_get_arg(), and func_get_args() functions.

No special syntax is required, and argument lists may still be explicitly provided with function definitions and will behave as normal.

User-defined functions

A function may be defined using syntax such as the following:

Example #1 Pseudo code to demonstrate function uses

<?php
function foo($arg_1, $arg_2, /* …, */ $arg_n)
{
    echo “Example function.\n”;
    return $retval;
}
?>
Any valid PHP code may appear inside a function, even other functions and class definitions.

Function names follow the same rules as other labels in PHP. A valid function name starts with a letter or underscore, followed by any number of letters, numbers, or underscores. As a regular expression, it would be expressed thus: [a-zA-Z_\x7f-\xff][a-zA-Z0-9_\x7f-\xff]*.

Tip
See also the Userland Naming Guide.

Functions need not be defined before they are referenced, except when a function is conditionally defined as shown in the two examples below.

When a function is defined in a conditional manner such as the two examples shown. Its definition must be processed prior to being called.

Example #2 Conditional functions

<?php

$makefoo = true;

/* We can’t call foo() from here
   since it doesn’t exist yet,
   but we can call bar() */

bar();

if ($makefoo) {
  function foo()
  {
    echo “I don’t exist until program execution reaches me.\n”;
  }
}

/* Now we can safely call foo()
   since $makefoo evaluated to true */

if ($makefoo) foo();

function bar()
{
  echo “I exist immediately upon program start.\n”;
}

?>
Example #3 Functions within functions

<?php
function foo()
{
  function bar()
  {
    echo “I don’t exist until foo() is called.\n”;
  }
}

/* We can’t call bar() yet
   since it doesn’t exist. */

foo();

/* Now we can call bar(),
   foo()’s processesing has
   made it accessible. */

bar();

?>
All functions and classes in PHP have the global scope - they can be called outside a function even if they were defined inside and vice versa.

PHP does not support function overloading, nor is it possible to undefine or redefine previously-declared functions.

Note: Function names are case-insensitive, though it is usually good form to call functions as they appear in their declaration.

Both variable number of arguments and default arguments are supported in functions. See also the function references for func_num_args(), func_get_arg(), and func_get_args() for more information.

It is possible to call recursive functions in PHP. However avoid recursive function/method calls with over 100-200 recursion levels as it can smash the stack and cause a termination of the current script.

Example #4 Recursive functions

<?php
function recursion($a)
{
    if ($a < 20) {
        echo “$a\n”;
        recursion($a + 1);
    }
}
?>