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I would like to be able to call a closure that I assign to an object's property directly without reassigning the closure to a variable and then calling it. Is this possible?
The code below doesn't work and causes Fatal error: Call to undefined method stdClass::callback().
$obj = new stdClass();
$obj->callback = function() {
print "HelloWorld!";
};
$obj->callback();
As of PHP7, you can do
$obj = new StdClass;
$obj->fn = function($arg) { return "Hello $arg"; };
echo ($obj->fn)('World');
or use Closure::call(), though that doesn't work on a StdClass.
Before PHP7, you'd have to implement the magic __call method to intercept the call and invoke the callback (which is not possible for StdClass of course, because you cannot add the __call method)
class Foo
{
public function __call($method, $args)
{
if(is_callable(array($this, $method))) {
return call_user_func_array($this->$method, $args);
}
// else throw exception
}
}
$foo = new Foo;
$foo->cb = function($who) { return "Hello $who"; };
echo $foo->cb('World');
Note that you cannot do
return call_user_func_array(array($this, $method), $args);
in the __call body, because this would trigger __call in an infinite loop.
You can do this by calling __invoke on the closure, since that's the magic method that objects use to behave like functions:
$obj = new stdClass();
$obj->callback = function() {
print "HelloWorld!";
};
$obj->callback->__invoke();
Of course that won't work if the callback is an array or a string (which can also be valid callbacks in PHP) - just for closures and other objects with __invoke behavior.
As of PHP 7 you can do the following:
($obj->callback)();
Since PHP 7 a closure can be called using the call() method:
$obj->callback->call($obj);
Since PHP 7 is possible to execute operations on arbitrary (...) expressions too (as explained by Korikulum):
($obj->callback)();
Other common PHP 5 approaches are:
using the magic method __invoke() (as explained by Brilliand)
$obj->callback->__invoke();
using the call_user_func() function
call_user_func($obj->callback);
using an intermediate variable in an expression
($_ = $obj->callback) && $_();
Each way has its own pros and cons, but the most radical and definitive solution still remains the one presented by Gordon.
class stdKlass
{
public function __call($method, $arguments)
{
// is_callable([$this, $method])
// returns always true when __call() is defined.
// is_callable($this->$method)
// triggers a "PHP Notice: Undefined property" in case of missing property.
if (isset($this->$method) && is_callable($this->$method)) {
return call_user_func($this->$method, ...$arguments);
}
// throw exception
}
}
$obj = new stdKlass();
$obj->callback = function() { print "HelloWorld!"; };
$obj->callback();
It seems to be possible using call_user_func().
call_user_func($obj->callback);
not elegant, though.... What #Gordon says is probably the only way to go.
Well, if you really insist. Another workaround would be:
$obj = new ArrayObject(array(),2);
$obj->callback = function() {
print "HelloWorld!";
};
$obj['callback']();
But that's not the nicest syntax.
However, the PHP parser always treats T_OBJECT_OPERATOR, IDENTIFIER, ( as method call. There seems to be no workaround for making -> bypass the method table and access the attributes instead.
I know this is old, but I think Traits nicely handle this problem if you are using PHP 5.4+
First, create a trait that makes properties callable:
trait CallableProperty {
public function __call($method, $args) {
if (property_exists($this, $method) && is_callable($this->$method)) {
return call_user_func_array($this->$method, $args);
}
}
}
Then, you can use that trait in your classes:
class CallableStdClass extends stdClass {
use CallableProperty;
}
Now, you can define properties via anonymous functions and call them directly:
$foo = new CallableStdClass();
$foo->add = function ($a, $b) { return $a + $b; };
$foo->add(2, 2); // 4
well, it should be emphisized that storing the closure in a variable, and call the varible is actually (wierdly) faster, depending on the call amount, it becomes quite a lot, with xdebug (so very precise measuring), we are talking about 1,5 (the factor, by using a varible, instead of directly calling the __invoke. so instead , just store the closure in a varible and call it.
Here's another alternative based on the accepted answer but extending stdClass directly:
class stdClassExt extends stdClass {
public function __call($method, $args)
{
if (isset($this->$method)) {
$func = $this->$method;
return call_user_func_array($func, $args);
}
}
}
Usage example:
$foo = new stdClassExt;
$foo->blub = 42;
$foo->whooho = function () { return 1; };
echo $foo->whooho();
You are probably better off using call_user_func or __invoke though.
Updated:
$obj = new stdClass();
$obj->callback = function() {
print "HelloWorld!";
};
PHP >= 7 :
($obj->callback)();
PHP >= 5.4 :
$callback = $obj->callback;
$callback();
If you're using PHP 5.4 or above you could bind a callable to the scope of your object to invoke custom behavior. So for example if you were to have the following set up..
function run_method($object, Closure $method)
{
$prop = uniqid();
$object->$prop = \Closure::bind($method, $object, $object);
$object->$prop->__invoke();
unset($object->$prop);
}
And you were operating on a class like so..
class Foo
{
private $value;
public function getValue()
{
return $this->value;
}
}
You could run your own logic as if you were operating from within the scope of your object
$foo = new Foo();
run_method($foo, function(){
$this->value = 'something else';
});
echo $foo->getValue(); // prints "something else"
I note that this works in PHP5.5
$a = array();
$a['callback'] = function() {
print "HelloWorld!";
};
$a['callback']();
Allows one to create a psuedo-object collection of closures.
PHP allows for variables to hold functions like so:
$f = function($a,$b) {
print "$a $b";
};
$f("Hello","World!"); //prints 'Hello World!'
This works just fine for me. I'm trying to pass a function into a class and set an instance variable to hold that function but with little luck:
class Clusterer {
private $distanceFunc;
public function __construct($f) {
$this->distanceFunc = $f;
print $f(1,7); //works
print $this->distanceFunc(1,7); //exceptions and errors abound
}
}
$func = function($a,$b) {
return abs($a-$b);
}
$c = new Clusterer($func);
Am I doing something wrong here? The error is that the function doesn't exist so my guess currently is that it looks for a class function with that name (which there isn't one) and then gives up rather than looking for variables as well... how can I make it view the $this->distanceFunc as a variable?
EDIT:
So after the advice from the answers below, I found a solution which was the make a function to wrap the invocation. For example my class is now:
class Clusterer {
private $distanceFunc;
public function __construct($f) {
$this->distanceFunc = $f;
print $f(1,7); //works
print $this->distanceFunc(1,7); //exceptions and errors abound
}
private function distanceFunc($a,$b) {
$holder = $this->distanceFunc;
return $holder($a,$b);
}
}
$func = function($a,$b) {
return abs($a-$b);
}
$c = new Clusterer($func);
and this works great. Php looks for functions first and can only tell if it is a variable by context I guess is the moral of this story.
Your code doesn't work because PHP interprets $this->distanceFunc(1,7) as a class method, but you can do the following:
class Clusterer {
private $distanceFunc;
public function __construct($f) {
$this->distanceFunc = $f;
print $f(1,7); //works
print call_user_func_array($this->distanceFunc, array(1, 7));
// print $this->distanceFunc(1,7); //exceptions and errors abound
}
}
$func = function($a,$b) {
return abs($a-$b);
};
$c = new Clusterer($func);
http://sandbox.onlinephpfunctions.com/code/cdc1bd6bd50f62d5c88631387ac9543368069310
In PHP, methods and properties of an object occupy separate namespaces. This is different from JavaScript, for example, where foo.bar = function() {} is a perfectly valid way of defining a method.
Consequently, $this->distanceFunc(1,7); looks for a method named distanceFunc on the current class, and the classes it inherits from, but never looks for the property which you happen to have given the same name.
One solution is to force PHP to look up a property, then execute it, e.g. $foo = $this->distanceFunc; $foo(1,7) or call_user_func($this->distanceFunc, 1, 7)
Another would be to define the magic method __call on your class, which gets run whenever a non-existent method is referenced. Something like this ought to work (I don't have an easy way to testright now):
function __call($func, $args) {
if ( property_exists($this, $func) && is_callable($this->$func) ) {
return call_user_func_array($this->$func, $args);
}
}
Note that this still isn't the same as a real method, for instance in terms of access to private properties.
It looks like you're going for a strategy pattern here. IE you want to be able to inject different methods for calculating distance? If so there is a more "sane" way to do it.
You can define an interface to the classes you will use to store the strategy method ensuring that the class will always have the method calculate() for example which would be your distance calculation function. Then in the constructor of your Clusterer class, type check against the interface in the parameter and call calculate() on the object passed in.
Looks like this:
interface Calculateable
{
public function calculate();
}
class MyDistanceCalculator implements Calculateable
{
public function calculate()
{
// Your function here
}
}
class Clusterer
{
protected $calc;
public function __construct(Calculateable $calc)
{
$this->calc = $calc;
$this->calc->calculate();
}
}
$myClusterer = new Clusterer(new MyDistanceCalculator());
Because you defined an interface, any object you pass in will have the calculate() function
In HHVM, you can do this:
<?php
class Foo
{
public function __construct()
{
$this->bar = function() { echo "Here\n"; };
($this->bar)();
}
}
new Foo();
But it's not yet supported in PHP. But, it will be in PHP 7 (there will be no release named PHP 6).
PHP doesn't have first class functions. In JavaScript if you returned a function you could do this: myFunctionThatReturnsAFunction()(1,2), but not in PHP.
<?php
class Clusterer {
private $distanceFunc;
public function __construct(Closure $f) {
$this->distanceFunc = $f;
}
public function getDistFunc()
{
return $this->distanceFunc;
}
}
$func = function($a,$b) {
return abs($a-$b);
};
$c = new Clusterer($func);
$a = $c->getDistFunc();
echo $a(1,2);
Take a look at call_user_func
class Clusterer {
private $distanceFunc;
public function __construct($f) {
$this->distanceFunc = $f;
print $f(1,7); //works
print call_user_func($this->distanceFunc, 1, 7); //works too ;)
}
}
$func = function($a,$b) {
return abs($a-$b);
};
$c = new Clusterer($func);
Don't ask me what is the difference, but it works the way you want (One of the reasons i hate this language)
I need to have a variable that only one function can write (let's call that function a) and that only one other function can read (let's call that function b). Is that possible?
You could use a static variable:
function foo($val=null) {
static $var = null;
if (!is_null($var)) $var = $val;
return $val;
}
Here $var is only visible inside the function foo and is maintained throughout multiple calls:
foo(123);
echo foo(); // 123
foo(456);
echo foo(); // 456
Or use a class with a private member and access/modify it with public methods:
class A {
private $var;
public function setVar($val) {
$this->var = $val;
}
public function getVar() {
return $this->var;
}
}
With this the private member var is only visible to a particular instance of this class:
$obj1 = new A();
$obj1->setVar(123);
$obj2 = new A();
$obj2->setVar(456);
echo $obj1->getVar(); // 123
echo $obj2->getVar(); // 456
If you make the member static, then there is just one for the class instead of for each instance:
class A {
private static $var;
public function setVar($val) {
self::$var = $val;
}
public function getVar() {
return self::$var;
}
}
$obj1 = new A();
$obj1->setVar(123);
$obj2 = new A();
$obj2->setVar(456);
echo $obj1->getVar(); // 456
echo $obj2->getVar(); // 456
You can use a static abstract class.
abstract class Settings
{
private static var $_settings = array();
public static function get($key,$default = false)
{
return isset(self::$_settings[$key]) ? self::$_settings[$key] : $default;
}
public static function set($key,$value)
{
self::$_settings[$key] = $value;
}
}
Example Usage:
Settings::set('SiteName',`SomeResult`);
echo Settings::get('SiteName');
Since 5.3.0, you can use anonymous functions as closures. The advantage here, is that you can hold on to b... which is returned by a... and fire it off when you're ready:
<?php
function a()
{
// Only a() can write to $myVar
$myVar = 42;
$b = function() use ($myVar)
{
// $b can read $myVar
// no one else can
return $myVar;
};
return $b;
}
// get $b
$test = a();
// use $b
echo $test();
?>
Another solution before 5.3.0, but here a has to fire b which may not be that practical:
You can simply create an internal variable and pass it as an argument. You can do this inside a class, or just inside simple functions:
function a()
{
// ...
// Write the variable that
// only this function can write to
$thisVar = 1;
b($thisVar);
//...
}
function b($myVar)
{
// ...
// Do stuff w $myVar, a copy of $thisVar
// Changing $myVar has no effect on $thisVar
//
}
Do you mean friend functions? Because I'd love to be able to do that. So far I haven't found an easy way though (although you could try using Reflection, but that seems like way to much effort).
For me, it usually hasn't been an issue of maintaining data integrity / encapsulation, but of keeping the list of public methods (which is kinda like a class's API) free of clutter. A perfect framework should be easy to use, have obvious function names etc etc etc. Methods intended for use by a single other method really mess things up. The "solution" I've taken to is prefixing those function names by one or two underscores and writing "intended for internal use only" or something to that extent in the comments.
I have been doing some tests (to replace old code) with the __invoke magic method and I'm not sure this is a bug or not:
Lets suppose we have a class:
class Calc {
function __invoke($a,$b){
return $a*$b;
}
}
The following is possible and works without any problem:
$c = new Calc;
$k = $c;
echo $k(4,5); //outputs 20
However if I want to have another class to store an instance of that object,
this doesn't work:
class Test {
public $k;
function __construct() {
$c = new Calc;
$this->k = $c; //Just to show a similar situation than before
// $this-k = new Calc; produces the same error.
}
}
The error occurs when we try to call it like:
$t = new Test;
echo $t->k(4,5); //Error: Call to undefined method Test::k()
I know that a "solution" could be to have a function inside the class Test (named k) to "forward" the call using call_user_func_array but that is not elegant.
I need to keep that instance inside a common class (for design purposes) and be able to call it as function from other classes... any suggestion?
Update:
I found something interesting (at least for my purposes):
If we assign the "class variable" into a local variable it works:
$t = new Test;
$m = $t->k;
echo $m(4,5);
PHP thinks you want to call a method k on instance $t when you do:
$t->k(4, 5)
which is perfectly reasonable. You can use an intermediate variable to call the object:
$b = $t->k;
$b(4, 5);
See also bug #50029, which describes your issue.
When you do $test->k(), PHP thinks you are calling a method on the $test instance. Since there is no method named k(), PHP throws an exception. What you are trying to do is make PHP return the public property k and invoke that, but to do so you have to assign k to a variable first. It's a matter of dereferencing.
You could add the magic __call method to your Test class to check if there is a property with the called method name and invoke that instead though:
public function __call($method, $args) {
if(property_exists($this, $method)) {
$prop = $this->$method;
return $prop();
}
}
I leave adding the arguments to the invocation to you.
You might also want to check if the property is_callable.
But anyway, then you can do
$test->k();
You can not use method syntax (like $foo->bar() ) to call closures or objects with __invoke, since the engine always thinks this is a method call. You could simulate it through __call:
function __call($name, $params) {
if(is_callable($this->$name)) {
call_user_func_array($this->$name, $params);
}
}
but it would not work as-is.
If you call $test->k() PHP will search for a method called "k" on the $test instance and obviously it will throws an Exception.
To resolve this problem you can create a getter of the property "k"
class Test {
public $k;
function __construct() {
$c = new Calc;
$this->k = $c; //Just to show a similar situation than before
// $this-k = new Calc; produces the same error.
}
public function getK() {
return $this->k;
}
}
So now you can use the functor in this way:
$t = new Test();
echo $t->getK()(4,5);
I want to access private methods and variables from outside the classes in very rare specific cases.
I've seen that this is not be possible although introspection is used.
The specific case is the next one:
I would like to have something like this:
class Console
{
final public static function run() {
while (TRUE != FALSE) {
echo "\n> ";
$command = trim(fgets(STDIN));
switch ($command) {
case 'exit':
case 'q':
case 'quit':
echo "OK+\n";
return;
default:
ob_start();
eval($command);
$out = ob_get_contents();
ob_end_clean();
print("Command: $command");
print("Output:\n$out");
break;
}
}
}
}
This method should be able to be injected in the code like this:
Class Demo
{
private $a;
final public function myMethod()
{
// some code
Console::run();
// some other code
}
final public function myPublicMethod()
{
return "I can run through eval()";
}
private function myPrivateMethod()
{
return "I cannot run through eval()";
}
}
(this is just one simplification. the real one goes through a socket, and implement a bunch of more things...)
So...
If you instantiate the class Demo and you call $demo->myMethod(), you'll get a console: that console can access the first method writing a command like:
> $this->myPublicMethod();
But you cannot run successfully the second one:
> $this->myPrivateMethod();
Do any of you have any idea, or if there is any library for PHP that allows you to do this?
Thanks a lot!
Just make the method public. But if you want to get tricky you can try this (PHP 5.3):
class LockedGate
{
private function open()
{
return 'how did you get in here?!!';
}
}
$object = new LockedGate();
$reflector = new ReflectionObject($object);
$method = $reflector->getMethod('open');
$method->setAccessible(true);
echo $method->invoke($object);
EDIT:
Updated to include examples of private function calls with parameters.
As of PHP 5.4, you can use the predefined Closure class to bind a method/property of a class to a delta functions that has access even to private members.
The Closure class
For example we have a class with a private variable and we want to access it outside the class:
class Foo {
private $bar = "Foo::Bar";
private function add_ab($a, $b) {
return $a + $b;
}
}
PHP 5.4+
$foo = new Foo;
// Single variable example
$getFooBarCallback = function() {
return $this->bar;
};
$getFooBar = $getFooBarCallback->bindTo($foo, 'Foo');
echo $getFooBar(); // Prints Foo::Bar
// Function call with parameters example
$getFooAddABCallback = function() {
// As of PHP 5.6 we can use $this->fn(...func_get_args()) instead of call_user_func_array
return call_user_func_array(array($this, 'add_ab'), func_get_args());
};
$getFooAddAB = $getFooAddABCallback->bindTo($foo, 'Foo');
echo $getFooAddAB(33, 6); // Prints 39
As of PHP 7, you can use the new Closure::call method, to bind any method/property of an obect to a callback function, even for private members:
PHP 7+
$foo = new Foo;
// Single variable example
$getFooBar = function() {
return $this->bar;
};
echo $getFooBar->call($foo); // Prints Foo::Bar
// Function call with parameters example
$getFooAddAB = function() {
return $this->add_ab(...func_get_args());
};
echo $getFooAddAB->call($foo, 33, 6); // Prints 39
The first question you should ask is, if you need to access it from outside the class, why did you declare it private? If it's not your code, the originator probably had a good reason to declare it private, and accessing it directly is a very bad (and largely unmaintainable) practice.
EDIT: As Adam V. points out in the comments, you need to make the private method accessible before invoking it. Code sample updated to include this. I haven't tested it, though - just adding here to keep the answer updated.
That having been said, you can use Reflection to accomplish this. Instantiate ReflectionClass, call getMethod for the method you want to invoke, and then call invoke on the returned ReflectionMethod.
A code sample (though I haven't tested it, so there may be errors) might look like
$demo = new Demo();
$reflection_class = new ReflectionClass("Demo");
$reflection_method = $reflection_class->getMethod("myPrivateMethod");
$reflection_method->setAccessible(true);
$result = $reflection_method->invoke($demo, NULL);
Here's a variation of the other answers that can be used to make such calls one line:
public function callPrivateMethod($object, $methodName)
{
$reflectionClass = new \ReflectionClass($object);
$reflectionMethod = $reflectionClass->getMethod($methodName);
$reflectionMethod->setAccessible(true);
$params = array_slice(func_get_args(), 2); //get all the parameters after $methodName
return $reflectionMethod->invokeArgs($object, $params);
}
I have these problems too sometimes, however I get around it through my coding standards. Private or protected functions are denoted with a prefix underscore ie
private function _myPrivateMethod()
Then i simply make the function public.
public function _myPrivateMethod()
So although the function is public the naming convention gives the notification that whilst public is is private and shouldn't really be used.
If you are able to added a method in the class where the method is defined, you can add method which uses the call_user_method() internally. This works also with PHP 5.2.x
<?php
class SomeClass {
public function callprivate($methodName) {
call_user_method(array($this, $methodName));
}
private function somePrivateMethod() {
echo 'test';
}
}
$object = new SomeClass();
$object->callprivate('somePrivateMethod');
Answer is put public to the method. Whatever trick you are going to do it wouldn't be understandable to fellow developers. For example they do not know that at some other code this function has been accessed as public by looking at the Demo class.
One more thing. that console can access the first method writing a command like:. How can this even be possible? Console can not access demo class functions by using $this.
I guess the reflectionClass is the only alternative if you really want to execute some private methods. Anyhow, if you just need read access to privat or protected properties, you could use this code:
<?php
class Demo
{
private $foo = "bar";
}
$demo = new Demo();
// Will return an object with public, private and protected properties in public scope.
$properties = json_decode(preg_replace('/\\\\u([0-9a-f]{4})|'.get_class($demo).'/i', '', json_encode((array) $demo)));
?>
<?php
$request="email";
$data=[1,2,3,4,5];
$name=new Update($request,$data);
class Update{
private $request;
private $data;
function __construct($request,$data){
$this->request=$request;
$this->data=$data;
if($this->request=='email'){
$this->update_email();
}
else{
echo "Can't do anything";
}
}
private function update_email(){
echo $this->request;
echo '\n';
foreach($this->data as $x){
echo $x."\n";
}
}
}
?>