Passing an array through a PHP function

Question

Im sure there has to be a way to do this:

I want it so that If I call a function like this...

callFunction("var1","var2","var3");

the function 'callFunction' will turn these variables into an array i.e:

$array[0] = "var1";
$array[1] = "var2";
$array[2] = "var3";

I want it to generate this array no matter how many variables are listed when calling the function, is this possible?

Is the question now, whether and how to pass an array to a function, or whether a function can be called with variable number of arguments? — Havelock
– Havelock, Commented Oct 1, 2012 at 9:24
@Havelock - I interpret it as "how to declare a varaidic function which will put all of its arguments into an array". If that is the case, don't roll your own, use array(). If you want to do more, do as @DCoder says and use func_get_args(). — slugonamission
– slugonamission, Commented Oct 1, 2012 at 9:26
This page in the manual might be insightful for you, too: Variable-length argument lists — hakre
– hakre, Commented Oct 1, 2012 at 9:44

fresskoma · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-01 09:33:23Z

8

You can simply do the following:

function callFunction() {
    $arr = func_get_args();
    // Do something with all the arguments
    // e.g. $arr[0], ...
}

func_get_args will return all the parameters passed to a function. You don't even need to specify them in the function header.

func_num_args will yield the number of arguments passed to the function. I'm not entirely sure why such a thing exists, given that you can simple count(func_get_args()), but I suppose it exist because it does in C (where it is actually necessary).

If you ever again look for this kind of feature in a different language, it is usually referred to as Variadic Function, or "varargs" if you need to Google it quickly :)

edited Oct 1, 2012 at 9:33

answered Oct 1, 2012 at 9:25

fresskoma

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1 Comment

Baba Over a year ago

@George you would need to add return $arg;

Mihai Iorga · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-01 09:30:53Z

0

Just return func_get_args() from that function:

function callFunction(){
    return func_get_args();
}

$array = callFunction("var1","var2","var3","var4","var5");
var_dump($array);

/*array(5) {
  [0]=>
  string(4) "var1"
  [1]=>
  string(4) "var2"
  [2]=>
  string(4) "var3"
  [3]=>
  string(4) "var4"
  [4]=>
  string(4) "var5"
}*/

edited Oct 1, 2012 at 9:30

answered Oct 1, 2012 at 9:25

Mihai Iorga

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Comments

Bhoopesh Pathak · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-01 10:09:20Z

0

Call your function like this.

callFunction( array("var1", "var2", "var3", "var4", "var5") );

and create your function like this.

function callFunction($array)
{
    //here you can acces your array. no matter how many variables are listed when calling the function.
    print_r($array);
}

answered Oct 1, 2012 at 10:09

Bhoopesh Pathak

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