Multiple Returns

[Anon]

Is it possible to return multiple values from a homemade function? Such as:
function foo($p)
{
$p+1=$p2;
$p2+6=$p3;
return($p2,$p3);
}

This has kept me purplexed. I have read a little bit of the PHP manual but can not find a solution.

[Anon]

return(array($var1, $var2, $var3, $etc));

[[deleted]]

A better way is to use the function's parameters.
Returning an array with result-data is just too messy, and doesn't
let you return a status-code when the function fails.

function foo($p, &$p2, &$p3)
{
$p+1=$p2;
$p2+6=$p3;
return true;
}

if (foo (1, $p2, $p3))
{
// Function foo worked, print the output
echo $p2.' '.$p3;
}
else
{
// function foo failed, produce error:
echo 'function foo failed';
}

[Anon]

Is it possible to return the results a) with out echoing it and b) not returning an array?

[[deleted]]

Yes. The example I posted does exactly that.

Note that the IF statement is outside the function, the echo's are not in the function itself.

[Anon]

//function foo($p, &$p2, &$p3)//
Is the &$p2, &$p3 a typo? What is the "&" for?

[[deleted]]

The '&' means 'pass by reference'.

Normally when you pass a variable to a function, you are really passing a copy of that variable.
That means that if the function changes the value of that var, only that copy changes. The original that you used to pass to the function doesn't change.

With 'pass by reference' you are not passing a copy of the value, but instead you are passing a 'reference' to that variable.

If the function changes the value of a var 'passed by reference' it will change the value of the var that is referenced.

In this case, the &$p2 and &$p3 in the function will reference (point to) whatever var you put in when you call the function.

Note: referencing is not just for functions, you can do a lot of fun things with them, like making an reference to an element in a three-dimentional array:

$sName = &$aMyArray[0][546]['name'];

changing the value of $sName will change the value of $aMyArray[0][546]['name']