CODEWITHSUNDEEP
phpfunctionclassobjectreturn
Haryono Sariputra
Haryono Sariputra

Reputation: 310

What is the meaning of return empty statement in PHP Function

Sorry before, maybe this is a very very basic question, but i really do not have an idea with this statement. Here the code, Thanks before :D

Class Trying{
   public function theFunction(){
    if (get_class($this) == __CLASS__) return;
   }
}
$try = new Trying();
$try->theFunction();

Upvotes: 0

Views: 3506

Answers (3)

dlopez
dlopez

Reputation: 995

That code does not make sense. You can use return as a way to break the execution of the function without returning any value. But in the that you show does not make sense, because is doing exactly the same always. It does not matter if the condition is true or false.

The only way that it can have some sense if you use the class as a base class for another one, and you override that method in the derived class.

Upvotes: 1

Ravi Hirani
Ravi Hirani

Reputation: 6539

You need to return some value. you can either send some data or simple true or false.

You can also return some condition which will return true or false

Class Trying{
   public function theFunction(){
     return get_class($this) == __CLASS__;
   }
}

$try = new Trying();
if($try->theFunction()){
   echo 'true';
}else{
   echo 'false';
}

Upvotes: 0

Richard Parnaby-King
Richard Parnaby-King

Reputation: 14882

When a function is called you are asking the function to do something and return the result. When a function ends, it will return null unless told otherwise.

What your function is doing:

{
    Am I this class? Return null;
    Return null; //end of function. Does this automatically.
}

To be useful the return value needs to be specified, e.g.

{
    Am I this class? return true;
    Otherwise, return false;
}

The value of this return will then be the answer (true or false).

Starting with your code:

public function theFunction(){
    if (get_class($this) == __CLASS__) return;
}

becomes:

public function theFunction(){
    if (get_class($this) == __CLASS__) {
        return true;
    }
    return false;
}

which can be refactored into:

/**
 * Am I this class?
 * @return Boolean
 */
public function theFunction(){
    return (get_class($this) == __CLASS__);
}

Upvotes: 3

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