PHP function with variable arguments
PHP Best Practices
Best Practice for passing a variable list of arguments to a function for processing.
Date : 2006-02-15
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There are many different reasons why we may want to pass a variable list of arguments to a function. One of the simplest examples to demonstrate would be a function to concatenate a group of strings. Here is an example of how that is done:
Code: <?php
function concatenate() {
$result = "";
for ($i = 0;$i < func_num_args();$i++) {
$result .= func_get_arg($i) . " ";
}
return $result;
}
echo concatenate("eenie","meenie","minie","mo");
?>
Notice the use of func_num_args to determine how many arguments were passed and func_get_args to retrieve those values.
Once you have the concept of this function you can apply this to any number of functions. For instance you could write a function to create a query searching for a variable number of search words. You can also make it reference specific arguments statically and the rest dynamicaly. For instance you could adjust the above function to have a different character or string entered in between each argument by placing that argument at the beginning (or end) of the argument list like this:
Code: <?php
function concatenate() {
$result = "";
if (func_num_args() > 1) {
$delimiter = func_get_arg(0);
$result = func_get_arg(1);
for ($i = 2;$i < func_num_args();$i++) {
$result .= $delimiter . func_get_arg($i);
}
return $result;
} else {
return "";
}
}
echo concatenate(",","eenie","meenie","minie","mo");
?>
Now you should start to see the options open up to you. Tell us what new and interesting applications you have found for this method. |
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