Sie können Werte mit dem optionalen Befehl "return" zurückgeben. Es können Variablen jeden Typs zurückgegeben werden, auch Arrays oder Objekte. Dies beendet sofort die Funktion und die Kontrolle wird wieder an die aufrufende Zeile zurückgegeben. Weitere Informationen finden Sie unter return().
Beispiel #1 Einsatz von return()
<?php
function quadrat ($zahl)
{
return $zahl * $zahl;
}
echo quadrat (4); // gibt '16' aus.
?>
Es ist nicht möglich, mehrere Werte von einer Funktion zurückzugeben. Ein ähnliches Resultat kann man aber durch die Rückgabe von Arrays erreichen.
Beispiel #2 Rückgabe mehrere Werte in Arrays
<?php
function kleine_zahlen()
{
return array (0, 1, 2);
}
list ($null, $eins, $zwei) = kleine_zahlen();
?>
Um von einer Funktion eine Referenz zurückzugeben, müssen Sie den Referenz-Operator & sowohl in der Funktionsdeklaration, als auch bei der Zuweisung des zurückgegebenen Wertes verwenden:
Beispiel #3 Rückgabe von Referenzen
<?php
function &returniere_referenz()
{
return $einereferenz;
}
$neuereferenz =& returniere_referenz();
?>
Weitere Informationen über Referenzen finden Sie im Kapitel Referenzen in PHP.
Developers with a C background may expect pass by reference semantics for arrays. It may be surprising that pass by value is used for arrays just like scalars. Objects are implicitly passed by reference.
<?php
# (1) Objects are always passed by reference and returned by reference
class Obj {
public $x;
}
function obj_inc_x($obj) {
$obj->x++;
return $obj;
}
$obj = new Obj();
$obj->x = 1;
$obj2 = obj_inc_x($obj);
obj_inc_x($obj2);
print $obj->x . ', ' . $obj2->x . "\n";
# (2) Scalars are not passed by reference or returned as such
function scalar_inc_x($x) {
$x++;
return $x;
}
$x = 1;
$x2 = scalar_inc_x($x);
scalar_inc_x($x2);
print $x . ', ' . $x2 . "\n";
# (3) You have to force pass by reference and return by reference on scalars
function &scalar_ref_inc_x(&$x) {
$x++;
return $x;
}
$x = 1;
$x2 =& scalar_ref_inc_x($x); # Need reference here as well as the function sig
scalar_ref_inc_x($x2);
print $x . ', ' . $x2 . "\n";
# (4) Arrays use pass by value sematics just like scalars
function array_inc_x($array) {
$array{'x'}++;
return $array;
}
$array = array();
$array['x'] = 1;
$array2 = array_inc_x($array);
array_inc_x($array2);
print $array['x'] . ', ' . $array2['x'] . "\n";
# (5) You have to force pass by reference and return by reference on arrays
function &array_ref_inc_x(&$array) {
$array{'x'}++;
return $array;
}
$array = array();
$array['x'] = 1;
$array2 =& array_ref_inc_x($array); # Need reference here as well as the function sig
array_ref_inc_x($array2);
print $array['x'] . ', ' . $array2['x'] . "\n";
As of at least PHP 5.3, a function or class method returning an object acts like an object.
<?php
class A {
function test() {
echo "Yay!";
}
}
function get_obj() {
return new A();
}
get_obj()->test(); // "Yay!"
?>
Sorry, still doesn't work with arrays. Ie <?php echo get_array()[1]; ?> fails.
Be careful about using "do this thing or die()" logic in your return lines. It doesn't work as you'd expect:
<?php
function myfunc1() {
return('thingy' or die('otherthingy'));
}
function myfunc2() {
return 'thingy' or die('otherthingy');
}
function myfunc3() {
return('thingy') or die('otherthingy');
}
function myfunc4() {
return 'thingy' or 'otherthingy';
}
function myfunc5() {
$x = 'thingy' or 'otherthingy'; return $x;
}
echo myfunc1(). "\n". myfunc2(). "\n". myfunc3(). "\n". myfunc4(). "\n". myfunc5(). "\n";
?>
Only myfunc5() returns 'thingy' - the rest return 1.
You can also use the compact-extract pair to return multiple values:
<?php
function Composite($x, $y) {
$sum = $x + $y;
$dif = $x - $y;
return compact('sum', 'dif');
}
extract(Composite(3, 4));
echo $sum;
echo $dif;
?>
Functions which return references, may return a NULL value. This is inconsistent with the fact that function parameters passed by reference can't be passed as NULL (or in fact anything which isnt a variable).
i.e.
<?php
function &testRet()
{
return NULL;
}
if (testRet() === NULL)
{
echo "NULL";
}
?>
parses fine and echoes NULL
Here's a sick idea. When a function returns no value, if you assign its return value to a variable that variable will be unset. So instead of returning -1 on error just return with no value.
For example,
function myfunc($myvar) {
if ($myvar == "abc")
return(1);
if ($myvar == "xyz")
return(2);
return;
}
$abc = myfunc("def");
if (isset($abc))
echo("a-ok");
else
echo("oops");
It seems that when you wish to export a varible, you can do it as return $varible, return an array(), or globalise it. If you return something, information for that varible can only travel one way when the script is running, and that is out of the function.
function fn() {
$varible = "something";
return $varible;
}
echo fn();
OR
$newvarible = fn();
Although if global was used, it creates a pointer to a varible, whether it existed or not, and makes whatever is created in the function linked to that global pointer. So if the pointer was global $varible, and then you set a value to $varible, it would then be accessible in the global scope. But then what if you later on in the script redefine that global to equal something else. This means that whatever is put into the global array, the information that is set in the pointer, can be set at any point (overiden). Here is an example that might make this a little clearer:
function fn1() {
global $varible; // Pointer to the global array
$varible = "something";
}
fn1();
echo $varible; // Prints something
$varible = "12345";
echo $varible; // Prints 12345
function fn2() {
global $varible; // Pointer to the global array
echo $varible;
}
fn2(); // echos $varible which contains "12345"
Basically with the global array, you can set it refer to something already defined or set it to something, (a pointer) such as varible you plan to create in the function, and later possibly over ride the pointer with something else.
In reference to the poster above, an additional (better?) way to return multiple values from a function is to use list(). For example:
function fn($a, $b)
{
# complex stuff
return array(
$a * $b,
$a + $b,
);
}
list($product, $sum) = fn(3, 4);
echo $product; # prints 12
echo $sum; # prints 7
A function can only return one value, but that value can be an array or other compound value. If you want to just define several variables into the global scope within your function you can do two things:
1. return an array from your function and then run the extract() function
$result_array = test ();
extract ($result_array);
2. Or you can just append the variables to the $GLOBALS array:
$array = array ('first' => 'john', 'middle' => 'q', 'last' => 'public');
function upper_case () {
global $array;
foreach ($array as $key => $value)
{
$GLOBALS[$key] = strtoupper ($value);
}
}
upper_case ();
echo "$first $middle $last";
// returns JOHN Q PUBLIC
In this second example you can create multiple values without necessarily returning anything from the function. This may be handy for applying several functions (stripslashes, trim, etc..) accross all elements of $_POST or $_GET and then having all of the newly cleaned up variables extracted out for you.
One thing to note about returning arrays- the usual "complex variable" syntax will give you a parse error. For instance, if you have:
function adminstuff() {
mysql_connect('localhost', 'user', 'pass');
mysql_select_db('mydb');
$result = mysql_query('SELECT login, pass FROM users);
$resultrow = mysql_fetch_array( $result );
# this next line is key:
return array ({$resultrow['login']}, {$resultrow['pass']});
}
That won't work. You *can* reference array elements without the curly-braces syntax, i.e.:
return array ($resultrow['login'], $resultrow['pass']);
But you'll get a parse error if you try to use curly braces. Thanks,
Steve
PHP functions that do not explicitly return a value will be 'void', that is, they return 'null'. C programmers will be accustomed to this already, but folks coming from Perl may expect the return value of a function to be the return value of the last expression evaluated inside the function, as is the case with Perl. Not so.