Passing to a function...

[Randell D.]

Folks,

I have created a function that accepts a dynamic number of arguements
and while it works, I'm wondering if I am passing it data in a correct
format...

I call the function as so

myFunction($myA rray, a, b ,c);

a, b and c are elements in $myArray... Is the above syntax incorrect?
Should I use

myFunction($myA rray, "a", "b" ,"c");

in order to be more correct?

I'm afraid that while it works now, some minor bug fix later might prove
to be a show stopper for me...

All help,via the newsgroup (for all to learn) is greatly appreciated,

randelld

[Michael Fesser]

Re: Passing to a function...

.oO(Randell D.)
[color=blue]
>I have created a function that accepts a dynamic number of arguements
>and while it works, I'm wondering if I am passing it data in a correct
>format...
>
>I call the function as so
>
> myFunction($myA rray, a, b ,c);
>
>a, b and c are elements in $myArray... Is the above syntax incorrect?[/color]

Why not simply test it? The above will be correct in at least one case.
[color=blue]
>Should I use
>
> myFunction($myA rray, "a", "b" ,"c");
>
>in order to be more correct?[/color]

Make sure your error_reporting is set to E_ALL in your php.ini, then
test both variants to see the difference.

Micha

[Alvaro G Vicario]

Re: Passing to a function...

*** Randell D. wrote/escribió (Tue, 22 Feb 2005 01:33:14 GMT):[color=blue]
> myFunction($myA rray, a, b ,c);
>
> a, b and c are elements in $myArray... Is the above syntax incorrect?
> Should I use
>
> myFunction($myA rray, "a", "b" ,"c");
>
> in order to be more correct?[/color]

Check the "Language Reference" chapter in PHP manual, it provides a quite
comprehensive insight on PHP syntax.

As for your questions:

foo is a constant: define('foo', 'Hello'); echo foo;
"foo" is a string: echo "foo";
$foo is a variable: $foo='Hello'; echo $foo;
foo() is a function: function foo(){return 'Hello';} echo foo();


--
-- Álvaro G. Vicario - Burgos, Spain
-- Thank you for not e-mailing me your questions
--

[Randell D.]

Re: Passing to a function...

Michael Fesser wrote:[color=blue]
> .oO(Randell D.)
>
>[color=green]
>>I have created a function that accepts a dynamic number of arguements
>>and while it works, I'm wondering if I am passing it data in a correct
>>format...
>>
>>I call the function as so
>>
>> myFunction($myA rray, a, b ,c);
>>
>>a, b and c are elements in $myArray... Is the above syntax incorrect?[/color]
>
>
> Why not simply test it? The above will be correct in at least one case.
>
>[color=green]
>>Should I use
>>
>> myFunction($myA rray, "a", "b" ,"c");
>>
>>in order to be more correct?[/color]
>
>
> Make sure your error_reporting is set to E_ALL in your php.ini, then
> test both variants to see the difference.
>
> Micha[/color]

Both work - but I was wondering if one was more correct/legal than the
other...

Thanks though,
randelld

[Randell D.]

Re: Passing to a function...

Alvaro G Vicario wrote:
[color=blue]
> *** Randell D. wrote/escribió (Tue, 22 Feb 2005 01:33:14 GMT):
>[color=green]
>> myFunction($myA rray, a, b ,c);
>>
>>a, b and c are elements in $myArray... Is the above syntax incorrect?
>>Should I use
>>
>> myFunction($myA rray, "a", "b" ,"c");
>>
>>in order to be more correct?[/color]
>
>
> Check the "Language Reference" chapter in PHP manual, it provides a quite
> comprehensive insight on PHP syntax.
>
> As for your questions:
>
> foo is a constant: define('foo', 'Hello'); echo foo;
> "foo" is a string: echo "foo";
> $foo is a variable: $foo='Hello'; echo $foo;
> foo() is a function: function foo(){return 'Hello';} echo foo();
>
>[/color]

Thanks... I'll check out the PHP manual - I suppose my question should
have asked if my former method was attempting to pass the constants a, b
or c, as opposed to the values - I wanted the values to be passed and
both methods give the same result - however I was unsure if there was
one method more legal/correct than the other.

Thanks
randelld

[Michael Fesser]

Re: Passing to a function...

.oO(Randell D.)
[color=blue]
>Thanks... I'll check out the PHP manual - I suppose my question should
>have asked if my former method was attempting to pass the constants a, b
>or c, as opposed to the values -[/color]

Yep.
[color=blue]
>I wanted the values to be passed and
>both methods give the same result - however I was unsure if there was
>one method more legal/correct than the other.[/color]

As said before - set error_reporting to E_ALL, then the first variant
will show three notices unless the constants a, b and c are defined.

Micha

[Alvaro G Vicario]

Re: Passing to a function...

*** Randell D. wrote/escribió (Tue, 22 Feb 2005 22:01:26 GMT):[color=blue]
> Thanks... I'll check out the PHP manual - I suppose my question should
> have asked if my former method was attempting to pass the constants a, b
> or c, as opposed to the values - I wanted the values to be passed and
> both methods give the same result - however I was unsure if there was
> one method more legal/correct than the other.[/color]

For some weird reason, PHP handles undefined constants as if they were
strings containing the constant name.

echo THIS_CONSTANT_I S_UNDEFINED; // Prints: THIS_CONSTANT_I S_UNDEFINED


--
-- Álvaro G. Vicario - Burgos, Spain
-- Thank you for not e-mailing me your questions
--

[Michael Fesser]

Re: Passing to a function...

.oO(Alvaro G Vicario)
[color=blue]
>For some weird reason, PHP handles undefined constants as if they were
>strings containing the constant name.[/color]

It's not weird.
[color=blue]
>echo THIS_CONSTANT_I S_UNDEFINED; // Prints: THIS_CONSTANT_I S_UNDEFINED[/color]

Notice: Use of undefined constant THIS_CONSTANT_I S_UNDEFINED - assumed
'THIS_CONSTANT_ IS_UNDEFINED' in [...] on line [...]

Micha

[Alvaro G Vicario]

Re: Passing to a function...

*** Michael Fesser wrote/escribió (Wed, 23 Feb 2005 19:20:30 +0100):[color=blue][color=green]
>>For some weird reason, PHP handles undefined constants as if they were
>>strings containing the constant name.[/color]
>
> It's not weird.[/color]

Anyway, I can't understand the purpose. Why only in constants and not in
variables?

--
-- Álvaro G. Vicario - Burgos, Spain
-- Thank you for not e-mailing me your questions
--

[Matt Mitchell]

Re: Passing to a function...

"Alvaro G Vicario" <alvaro_QUITAR_ REMOVE@telecomp uteronline.com> wrote in
message news:3nehvij6rv g9.ub5cge26ueus $.dlg@40tude.ne t...
: *** Michael Fesser wrote/escribió (Wed, 23 Feb 2005 19:20:30 +0100):
: >>For some weird reason, PHP handles undefined constants as if they were
: >>strings containing the constant name.
: >
: > It's not weird.
:
: Anyway, I can't understand the purpose. Why only in constants and not in
: variables?
:

Probably because it's reminiscent of Perl's handling of barewords?

Because of sunspots?

A far more pertinent question, though, is why somebody would want to use
uninitialised constants in their code...