PHP: Variable in a function name - php

Question

I want to trigger a function based on a variable.
function sound_dog() { return 'woof'; }
function sound_cow() { return 'moo'; }
$animal = 'cow';
print sound_{$animal}(); *
The * line is the line that's not correct.
I've done this before, but I can't find it. I'm aware of the potential security problems, etc.
Anyone? Many thanks.

Answer 1

You can do that, but not without interpolating the string first:
$animfunc = 'sound_' . $animal;
print $animfunc();
Or, skip the temporary variable with call_user_func():
call_user_func('sound_' . $animal);

Answer 2

You can do it like this:
$animal = 'cow';
$sounder = "sound_$animal";
print ${sounder}();
However, a much better way would be to use an array:
$sounds = array('dog' => sound_dog, 'cow' => sound_cow);
$animal = 'cow';
print $sounds[$animal]();
One of the advantages of the array method is that when you come back to your code six months later and wonder "gee, where is this sound_cow function used?" you can answer that question with a simple text search instead of having to follow all the logic that creates variable function names on the fly.

Answer 3

http://php.net/manual/en/functions.variable-functions.php
To do your example, you'd do
$animal_function = "sound_$animal";
$animal_function();

Answer 4

You can use curly brackets to build your function name. Not sure of backwards compatibility, but at least PHP 7+ can do it.
Here is my code when using Carbon to add or subtract time based on user chosen type (of 'add' or 'sub'):
$type = $this->date->calculation_type; // 'add' or 'sub'
$result = $this->contactFields[$this->date->{'base_date_field'}]
->{$type.'Years'}( $this->date->{'calculation_years'} )
->{$type.'Months'}( $this->date->{'calculation_months'} )
->{$type.'Weeks'}( $this->date->{'calculation_weeks'} )
->{$type.'Days'}( $this->date->{'calculation_days'} );
The important part here is the {$type.'someString'} sections. This will generate the function name before executing it. So in the first case if the user has chosen 'add', {$type.'Years'} becomes addYears.

Answer 5

For PHP >= 7 you can use this way:
function sound_dog() { return 'woof'; }
function sound_cow() { return 'moo'; }
$animal = 'cow';
print ("sound_$animal")();

Answer 6

You should ask yourself why you need to be doing this, perhaps you need to refactor your code to something like the following:
function animal_sound($type){
$animals=array();
$animals['dog'] = "woof";
$animals['cow'] = "moo";
return $animals[$type];
}
$animal = "cow";
print animal_sound($animal);

Answer 7

You can use $this-> and self:: for class-functions. Example provided below with a function input-parameter.
$var = 'some_class_function';
call_user_func(array($this, $var), $inputValue);
// equivalent to: $this->some_class_function($inputValue);

Answer 8

And yet another solution to what I like to call the dog-cow problem. This will spare a lot of superfluous function names and definitions and is perfect PHP syntax and probably future proof:
$animal = 'cow';
$sounds = [
'dog' => function() { return 'woof'; },
'cow' => function() { return 'moo'; }
];
print ($sounds[$animal])();
and looks a little bit less like trickery as the "string to function names" versions.
JavaScript devs might prefer this one for obvious reasons.
(tested on Windows, PHP 7.4.0 Apache 2.4)