CODEWITHSUNDEEP
phpmysqlarraysperformancefunction
John Jaoill
John Jaoill

Reputation: 159

Does the PHP function get called every time you use a variable?

Not sure if this is the place to ask. Here is my code and my question is after the code:

function test() {
    $db->SELECT * FROM... etc...

    $array = array("Car"=>$row['car'], "Boat"=>$row['boat'], "Plane"=>$row['plane']);
    return $array;
}

$vehicles = test();

echo $vehicles['car']; // call 1
echo $vehicles['boat']; // call 2
echo $vehicles['plan']; // call 3

as you can see, i call $vehicles[]; 3 times. Every time it calls the $vehicles, does it need to go back to the test() function and search through the database on every call? Or does it store the array in the $vehicles variable once on page load? thanks.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 72

Answers (2)

Blue
Blue

Reputation: 22911

No. test() is executed once, and the return variable (Which is an array) is assigned to $vechicles.

I've created a test here, which shows how this functionality works:

<?php

function test() {
    echo 'Test function called', "\n";

    $array = array("Car"=> 'Test car', "Boat"=> 'Test boat', "Plane"=> 'Test plane');
    return $array;
}

$vehicles = test();

echo $vehicles['Car'], "\n"; // call 1
echo $vehicles['Boat'], "\n"; // call 2
echo $vehicles['Plane'], "\n"; // call 3

You'll notice that "Test function called" is only echoed out once (At the beginning). If this function was called multiple times, "Test function called" would be echoed multiple times.

Upvotes: 2

junkfoodjunkie
junkfoodjunkie

Reputation: 3178

The function is called once. The call to the $vehicles variable will pull the content from the array stored, not the function.

So the test()-function is only run once (on page load).

Upvotes: 1

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