Export functions in PHP à la Javascript – Ivan Enderlin's tho...

Warning: This post is totally useless. It is the result of a fun private company thread.

Export functions in Javascript

In Javascript, a file can export functions like this:

export function times2(x) {
    return x * 2;
}

And then we can import this function in another file like this:

import {times2} from 'foo';

console.log(times2(21)); // 42

Is it possible with PHP?

Export functions in PHP

Every entity is public in PHP: Constant, function, class, interface, or trait. They can live in a namespace. So exporting functions in PHP is absolutely useless, but just for the fun, let’s keep going.

A PHP file can return an integer, a real, an array, an anonymous function, anything. Let’s try this:

<?php

return function (int $x): int {
    return $x * 2;
};

And then in another file:

<?php

$times2 = require 'foo.php';
var_dump($times2(21)); // int(42)

Great, it works.

What if our file returns more than one function? Let’s use an array (which has most hashmap properties):

<?php

return [
    'times2' => function (int $x): int {
        return $x * 2;
    },
    'answer' => function (): int {
        return 42;
    }
];

To choose what to import, let’s use the list intrinsic. It has several forms: With or without key matching, long (list(…)) and short syntax ([…]). Because we are modern, we will use the short syntax with key matching to selectively import functions:

<?php

['times2' => $mul] = require 'foo.php';

var_dump($mul(21)); // int(42)

Notice that times2 has been aliased to $mul. What a feature!

Is it useful? Absolutely not. Is it fun? For me it is.