making PHP join/concat (.) like JavaScript - php

Question

I've stuck on a seems-to-be simple command join, but can't work it out.
I have a between() function which does the following:
/**
* Checks if passed int is between $left and $right
* #param int $left lowest value
* #param int $right highest value
* #param int $value actual value
* #return bool is $value between $left and $right
*/
function between($left, $right, $value)
{
$value = intval($value);
return ( $value >= $left && $value <= $right );
}
and the usage is pretty simple:
$int = 9;
var_dump( between( 6, 14, $int ) );//bool(true)
Now what I want to achieve is:
$int = 9;
var_dump( $int.between( 6, 14 ) );//bool(true)
it would make more sense and would be easier to understand.
Any ideas how do I achieve this?
If $int would be an object which extends comparisonFunctions I could do $int->between(); but maybe there is a way to catch what does . join?
Thanks in advance

Answer 1

The . operator has a different meaning in Javascript and in PHP: In Javascript it is used for property accessor while PHP uses it for string concatenation. For property access in PHP you use the -> operator on objects (and the :: operator on classes) instead.
So to get the same behavior you would need to have an object value with such a method instead of a scalar value:
class Integer {
private $value;
public function __constructor($value) {
$this->value = intval($value);
}
public function between($min, $max) {
if (!($min instanceof Integer)) {
$min = new Integer($min);
}
if (!($max instanceof Integer)) {
$max = new Integer($max);
}
return $min->intValue() <= $this->value && $this->value <= $max->intValue();
}
public function intValue() {
return $this->value;
}
}
Then you can do this:
$int = new Integer(9);
var_dump($int->between(6, 14));
But maybe it already suffuces if you just name the function properly and switch the parameter order:
isInRange($val, $min, $max)

Answer 2

$int is of the primitive type int and contains the value 9. It is not an object that has instance methods/functions. This (sadly) isn't Ruby ;)
What you want isn't possible in PHP unless you do something like this - but I wouldn't advise it:
class Integer {
private $value;
public function __construct($value) {
$this->setValue((int)$value);
}
public function getValue() {
return $this->value;
}
public function setValue($value) {
$this->value = $value;
}
public function between($a, $b) {
return ($this->getValue() >= $a && $this->getValue() <= $b);
}
}