Can this PHP code be improved? - php

Question

Is there a better way to do this simple task below? Like with an array or even another method?
<?PHP
// current way
if ($city != NULL) {
$city = FilterALLHTML($city);
}
if ($state != NULL) {
$state = FilterALLHTML($state);
}
if ($title != NULL) {
$title = FilterALLHTML($title);
}
if ($division != NULL) {
$division = FilterALLHTML($division);
}
?>
Here is my current function
function FilterALLHTML($document) {
//old array line //"'<[\/\!]*?[^<>]*//?//>'si",// strip html
$text = strip_tags($document);
$search = array ("/f.?u.?c.?k/i",
"/(s|$).?h.?i.?t/i",
'/(potspace|mycrib|palbolt)/i');
$text = preg_replace ($search, '', $text);
return $text;
}
UPDATE - Ok my new function after the suggestions from this post thanks guys
function FilterALLHTML($var) {
//old array line //"'<[\/\!]*?[^<>]*//?//>'si",// strip html
if ($var != null){
$text = strip_tags($var);
$search = array ("/f.?u.?c.?k/i",
"/(s|$).?h.?i.?t/i",
'/(potspace|mycrib|palbolt|pot space)/i');
$text = preg_replace ($search, '', $text);
return $text;
}
return null;
}

Answer 1

Change your FilterALLHTML function to do the null check and have it return null?
Then you can throw away all the ifs.
Example:
function FilterALLHTML($input)
{
if ($input === null)
return null;
// Original code, I'll just use strip_tags() for a functional example
return strip_tags($input);
}
Edit:
I felt like sharing an alternative to variable variables, as I don't really like the idea of using string literals instead of variable names. References all the way :)
function FilterALLHTML(&$text)
{
if ($text !== null)
{
// Omitted regex bit for simplicity
$text = strip_tags($text);
}
}
$city = "<b>New York</b>";
$state = null;
$title = "<i>Mr.</i>";
$fields = array(&$city, &$state, &$title);
foreach ($fields as &$var)
FilterALLHTML($var);
(note: FilterALLHTML implementation differs from first example)

Answer 2

Yes, use PHP's variable variables.
$vars = array('city','state','title','division');
foreach($vars as $v) {
if ($$v != null) $$v = FilterAllHTML($$v);
}
If you know for a fact that all the variables have been previously defined, then you don't need the null check. Otherwise, the null check will prevent E_NOTICE errors from triggering.

Answer 3

foreach (array('city', 'state', 'title', 'division') as $var) {
if ($$var != null) {
$$var = FilterALLHTML($$var);
}
}
Like Thorarin I'd suggest having your FilterALLHTML function check for null instead though.

Answer 4

zombat's answer is the best, but I'd add that you shouldn't really be checking for null either. If for some reason FilterAllHTML has a problem with null values, which it shouldn't, put the check for null in the FilterAllHTML function definition.
$vars = array('city', 'state', 'title', 'division');
foreach($vars as $var) {
$$var = FilterAllHTML($$var);
}

Answer 5

Well, you could already consider writing a function because you do exactly the same thing four times.
Assuming FilterALLHTML is not a custom function.
function Filter($var)
{
if ($var != null)
{
return FilterALLHTML($var);
}
return null;
}
Or just include the null check in the FilterALLHTML function and return null from there, if needed.
So, if you can change FilterALLHTML then you'd do it like this:
function FilterALLHTML($var)
{
if ($var == null)
{
return null;
}
else
{
//do your filtering
return $filteredVar;
}
}

Answer 6

Adding to Thorarin's answer, you can change your filterall function in order to accept an array as input, and passing it by reference it will modify the arrays' content.
$tofilter = array($city,$state,$division,$title);
filterall($tofilter);

Answer 7

I didn't see it mentioned, you could always pass the parameters by reference to skip the repeated assignments:
function FilterALLHTML(&$var)
{
if ($var == null)
{
$var = null;
}
else
{
$var = strip_tags($var);
}
}
I believe you can also store references in the array but i haven't tried it.
foreach (array(&$city, &$state, &$title, &$division) as $var)
{
FilterALLHTML($var);
}

Answer 8

I don't think you can improve the performance, but you can shorten the syntax, but it will end up being the same to the interpreter
<?PHP
$city = ($city == NULL) ? "default value" : FilterALLHTML($city);
$state = ($state == NULL) ? "default value" : FilterALLHTML($state);
$title = ($title == NULL) ? "default value" : FilterALLHTML($title);
$division = ($division == NULL) ? "default value" : FilterALLHTML($division);
?>
"default value" should be replaced with what you would like the value to be if the variable is null