Classes vs. Functions--and recursing

[sfullman]

Hi there,

I'm on the brink of writing classes, it's a new concept to me but I begin to understand the advantages over functions because you can have multiple instances of something.

However, I am developing functions/classes that will perform complex analyses on documents, and there are times when, during the execution of a function, a condition will be encountered that I want to call the function itself again.

I realize you could get in an endless loop, but is that even possible to call a function--or class-- within itself?

Thanks,
Sam Fullman
Compass Point Media

[sfullman]

Well, turns out it does work. Thought this was worth passing along to everyone else.

see the example below:

<?php
function recursive_function(){
if(func_num_args()==1){
echo "function called again, great!";
}else{
echo "nothing passed in function\n";
recursive_function("some value");
}
}
recursive_function();
?>

[[deleted]]

Don't forget to build-in a safetynet. Recursive functions have a tendency to become endless loops if you make one tiny mistake. And PHP in an endless loop can only be stopped by restarting the webserver process...

make sure that your function will allways come to an end and can never continue on for ever, for example by passing along an iteration counter that forces the recursion to end after 100 loops (or more if your application requires it)