coding style - functions with many parameters

[Nate]

I just finished reading an article on standard coding style and I'm curious if there is a standard way for dealing with functions with many parameters. After so many parameters the code either runs off the edge of the screen or wraps to the next line (very ugly).

for example:

function foobar($test1, $test2, $test3, $test4, $test5, $test6, etc)
{
   //wonderful code here
}

Thanks

[laserlight]

Well, one thing to realise is that there is no standard coding style.
There are a few generally accepted indentation and naming conventions, but it really depends on the individual programmer, or the team (or team leader).

As for your answer, one way would be to limit each line to say, 80 characters.
Then the parameters that overflow this limit would be placed on the following line, e.g.

function foobar($test1, $test2, $test3, $test4,
	$test5, $test6, $test7)
{
	//wonderful code here
}

of course, given that modern terminals usually dont impose a limit, and one's text editor should have a word-wrap toggle, placing it on one long line is also possible, though somewhat more difficult to view at a glance.

[Nate]

Thanks. Was hoping there was a nicer looking way to do it but I guess there aren't many options.

function foobar($test1, $test2, $test3,
                $test4, $test5, $test6) 
{ 
   //wonderful code here 
}

[laserlight]

Also, possible.

I've seen instances where each argument was placed on its own line, but then the argument names were reasonably long.

[jebster]

Put all the arugments in an array then you only need to pass one thing. 🙂

[laserlight]

The downside to that is that the array would need to be documented well.

You may also waste time in creating the array, and then extracting it.

[jebster]

Well then I guess you could use smaller variable names, or set the font to a smaller size or increase your monitor resolution 🙂