I'm a little confused with PHP closures. Can someone clear this up for me:
// Sample PHP closure
my_method(function($apples) use ($oranges) {
// Do something here
});
What's the difference between $apples
and $oranges
and when should I be using each?
$apples
will take on the value that is passed to the function when it is called, e.g.
function my_method($callback) {
// inside the callback, $apples will have the value "foo"
$callback('foo');
}
$oranges
will refer to the value of the variable $oranges
which exists in the scope where you defined the closure. E.g.:
$oranges = 'bar';
my_method(function($apples) use ($oranges) {
// $oranges will be "bar"
// $apples will be "foo" (assuming the previous example)
});
The differences is that $oranges
is bound when the function is defined and $apples
is bound when the function is called.
Closures let you access variables defined outside of the function, but you have to explicitly tell PHP which variables should be accessible. This is similar (but not equivalent!) to using the global
keyword if the variable is defined in global scope:
$oranges = 'bar';
my_method(function($apples) {
global $oranges;
// $oranges will be "bar"
// $apples will be "foo" (assuming the previous example)
});
The differences between using closures and global
:
- You can bind local variables to closures,
global
only works with global variables.
Closures bind the value of the variable at the time the closure was defined. Changes to the variables after the function was defined does not effect it.
On the other hand, if you use global
, you will receive the value the variable has at the moment when the function is called.
Example:
$foo = 'bar';
$closure = function() use ($foo) {
echo $foo;
};
$global = function() {
global $foo;
echo $foo;
};
$foo = 42;
$closure(); // echos "bar"
$global(); // echos 42
$apples
is passed as an argument to my_method
, and $oranges
is injected inside.