[php] PHP function overloading

Coming from C++ background ;)
How can I overload PHP functions?

One function definition if there are any arguments, and another if there are no arguments? Is it possible in PHP? Or should I use if else to check if there are any parameters passed from $_GET and POST?? and relate them?

This question is related to php arguments overloading

The answer is


PHP does not support overloading for now. Hope this will be implemented in the other versions like other programming languages.

Checkout this library, This will allow you to use PHP Overloading in terms of closures. https://github.com/Sahil-Gulati/Overloading


To over load a function simply do pass parameter as null by default,

class ParentClass
{
   function mymethod($arg1 = null, $arg2 = null, $arg3 = null)  
     {  
        if( $arg1 == null && $arg2 == null && $arg3 == null ){ 
           return 'function has got zero parameters <br />';
        }
        else
        {
           $str = '';
           if( $arg1 != null ) 
              $str .= "arg1 = ".$arg1." <br />";

           if( $arg2 != null ) 
              $str .= "arg2 = ".$arg2." <br />";

           if( $arg3 != null ) 
              $str .= "arg3 = ".$arg3." <br />";

           return $str;
         }
     }
}

// and call it in order given below ...

 $obj = new ParentClass;

 echo '<br />$obj->mymethod()<br />';
 echo $obj->mymethod();

 echo '<br />$obj->mymethod(null,"test") <br />';
 echo $obj->mymethod(null,'test');

 echo '<br /> $obj->mymethod("test","test","test")<br />';
 echo $obj->mymethod('test','test','test');

PHP doesn't support traditional method overloading, however one way you might be able to achieve what you want, would be to make use of the __call magic method:

class MyClass {
    public function __call($name, $args) {

        switch ($name) {
            case 'funcOne':
                switch (count($args)) {
                    case 1:
                        return call_user_func_array(array($this, 'funcOneWithOneArg'), $args);
                    case 3:
                        return call_user_func_array(array($this, 'funcOneWithThreeArgs'), $args);
                 }
            case 'anotherFunc':
                switch (count($args)) {
                    case 0:
                        return $this->anotherFuncWithNoArgs();
                    case 5:
                        return call_user_func_array(array($this, 'anotherFuncWithMoreArgs'), $args);
                }
        }
    }

    protected function funcOneWithOneArg($a) {

    }

    protected function funcOneWithThreeArgs($a, $b, $c) {

    }

    protected function anotherFuncWithNoArgs() {

    }

    protected function anotherFuncWithMoreArgs($a, $b, $c, $d, $e) {

    }

}

Sadly there is no overload in PHP as it is done in C#. But i have a little trick. I declare arguments with default null values and check them in a function. That way my function can do different things depending on arguments. Below is simple example:

public function query($queryString, $class = null) //second arg. is optional
{
    $query = $this->dbLink->prepare($queryString);
    $query->execute();

    //if there is second argument method does different thing
    if (!is_null($class)) { 
        $query->setFetchMode(PDO::FETCH_CLASS, $class);
    }

    return $query->fetchAll();
}

//This loads rows in to array of class
$Result = $this->query($queryString, "SomeClass");
//This loads rows as standard arrays
$Result = $this->query($queryString);

What about this:

function($arg = NULL) {

    if ($arg != NULL) {
        etc.
        etc.
    }
}

It may be hackish to some, but I learned this way from how Cakephp does some functions and have adapted it because I like the flexibility it creates

The idea is you have different type of arguments, arrays, objects etc, then you detect what you were passed and go from there

function($arg1, $lastname) {
    if(is_array($arg1)){
        $lastname = $arg1['lastname'];
        $firstname = $arg1['firstname'];
    } else {
        $firstname = $arg1;
    }
    ...
}

<?php   
/*******************************
 * author  : [email protected] 
 * version : 3.8
 * create on : 2017-09-17
 * updated on : 2020-01-12
 * download example:  https://github.com/hishamdalal/overloadable
 *****************************/

#> 1. Include Overloadable class

class Overloadable
{
    static function call($obj, $method, $params=null) {
        $class = get_class($obj);
        // Get real method name
        $suffix_method_name = $method.self::getMethodSuffix($method, $params);

        if (method_exists($obj, $suffix_method_name)) {
            // Call method
            return call_user_func_array(array($obj, $suffix_method_name), $params);
        }else{
            throw new Exception('Tried to call unknown method '.$class.'::'.$suffix_method_name);
        }
    }

    static function getMethodSuffix($method, $params_ary=array()) {
        $c = '__';
        if(is_array($params_ary)){
            foreach($params_ary as $i=>$param){
                // Adding special characters to the end of method name 
                switch(gettype($param)){
                    case 'array':       $c .= 'a'; break;
                    case 'boolean':     $c .= 'b'; break;
                    case 'double':      $c .= 'd'; break;
                    case 'integer':     $c .= 'i'; break;
                    case 'NULL':        $c .= 'n'; break;
                    case 'object':
                        // Support closure parameter
                        if($param instanceof Closure ){
                            $c .= 'c';
                        }else{
                            $c .= 'o'; 
                        }
                    break;
                    case 'resource':    $c .= 'r'; break;
                    case 'string':      $c .= 's'; break;
                    case 'unknown type':$c .= 'u'; break;
                }
            }
        }
        return $c;
    }
    // Get a reference variable by name
    static function &refAccess($var_name) {
        $r =& $GLOBALS["$var_name"]; 
        return $r;
    }
}
//----------------------------------------------------------
#> 2. create new class
//----------------------------------------------------------

class test 
{
    private $name = 'test-1';

    #> 3. Add __call 'magic method' to your class

    // Call Overloadable class 
    // you must copy this method in your class to activate overloading
    function __call($method, $args) {
        return Overloadable::call($this, $method, $args);
    }

    #> 4. Add your methods with __ and arg type as one letter ie:(__i, __s, __is) and so on.
    #> methodname__i = methodname($integer)
    #> methodname__s = methodname($string)
    #> methodname__is = methodname($integer, $string)

    // func(void)
    function func__() {
        pre('func(void)', __function__);
    }
    // func(integer)
    function func__i($int) {
        pre('func(integer '.$int.')', __function__);
    }
    // func(string)
    function func__s($string) {
        pre('func(string '.$string.')', __function__);
    }    
    // func(string, object)
    function func__so($string, $object) {
        pre('func(string '.$string.', '.print_r($object, 1).')', __function__);
        //pre($object, 'Object: ');
    }
    // func(closure)
    function func__c(Closure $callback) {
        
        pre("func(".
            print_r(
                array( $callback, $callback($this->name) ), 
                1
            ).");", __function__.'(Closure)'
        );
        
    }   
    // anotherFunction(array)
    function anotherFunction__a($array) {
        pre('anotherFunction('.print_r($array, 1).')', __function__);
        $array[0]++;        // change the reference value
        $array['val']++;    // change the reference value
    }
    // anotherFunction(string)
    function anotherFunction__s($key) {
        pre('anotherFunction(string '.$key.')', __function__);
        // Get a reference
        $a2 =& Overloadable::refAccess($key); // $a2 =& $GLOBALS['val'];
        $a2 *= 3;   // change the reference value
    }
    
}

//----------------------------------------------------------
// Some data to work with:
$val  = 10;
class obj {
    private $x=10;
}

//----------------------------------------------------------
#> 5. create your object

// Start
$t = new test;

#> 6. Call your method

// Call first method with no args:
$t->func(); 
// Output: func(void)

$t->func($val);
// Output: func(integer 10)

$t->func("hello");
// Output: func(string hello)

$t->func("str", new obj());
/* Output: 
func(string str, obj Object
(
    [x:obj:private] => 10
)
)
*/

// call method with closure function
$t->func(function($n){
    return strtoupper($n);
});

/* Output:
func(Array
(
    [0] => Closure Object
        (
            [parameter] => Array
                (
                    [$n] => 
                )

        )

    [1] => TEST-1
)
);
*/

## Passing by Reference:

echo '<br><br>$val='.$val;
// Output: $val=10

$t->anotherFunction(array(&$val, 'val'=>&$val));
/* Output:
anotherFunction(Array
(
    [0] => 10
    [val] => 10
)
)
*/

echo 'Result: $val='.$val;
// Output: $val=12

$t->anotherFunction('val');
// Output: anotherFunction(string val)

echo 'Result: $val='.$val;
// Output: $val=36







// Helper function
//----------------------------------------------------------
function pre($mixed, $title=null){
    $output = "<fieldset>";
    $output .= $title ? "<legend><h2>$title</h2></legend>" : "";
    $output .= '<pre>'. print_r($mixed, 1). '</pre>';
    $output .= "</fieldset>";
    echo $output;
}
//----------------------------------------------------------

In PHP 5.6 you can use the splat operator ... as the last parameter and do away with func_get_args() and func_num_args():

function example(...$args)
{
   count($args); // Equivalent to func_num_args()
}

example(1, 2);
example(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7);

You can use it to unpack arguments as well:

$args[] = 1;
$args[] = 2;
$args[] = 3;
example(...$args);

Is equivalent to:

example(1, 2, 3);

<?php

    class abs
    {
        public function volume($arg1=null, $arg2=null, $arg3=null)
        {   
            if($arg1 == null && $arg2 == null && $arg3 == null)
        {
            echo "function has no arguments. <br>";
        }

        else if($arg1 != null && $arg2 != null && $arg3 != null)
            {
            $volume=$arg1*$arg2*$arg3;
            echo "volume of a cuboid ".$volume ."<br>";
            }
            else if($arg1 != null && $arg2 != null)
            {
            $area=$arg1*$arg2;
            echo "area of square  = " .$area ."<br>";
            }
            else if($arg1 != null)
            {
            $volume=$arg1*$arg1*$arg1; 
            echo "volume of a cube = ".$volume ."<br>";
            }


        }


    }

    $obj=new abs();
    echo "For no arguments. <br>";
    $obj->volume();
    echo "For one arguments. <br>";
    $obj->volume(3);
    echo "For two arguments. <br>";
    $obj->volume(3,4);
    echo "For three arguments. <br>";
    $obj->volume(3,4,5);
    ?>

Examples related to php

I am receiving warning in Facebook Application using PHP SDK Pass PDO prepared statement to variables Parse error: syntax error, unexpected [ Preg_match backtrack error Removing "http://" from a string How do I hide the PHP explode delimiter from submitted form results? Problems with installation of Google App Engine SDK for php in OS X Laravel 4 with Sentry 2 add user to a group on Registration php & mysql query not echoing in html with tags? How do I show a message in the foreach loop?

Examples related to arguments

docker build with --build-arg with multiple arguments ARG or ENV, which one to use in this case? How to have multiple conditions for one if statement in python Gradle task - pass arguments to Java application Angularjs - Pass argument to directive TypeError: method() takes 1 positional argument but 2 were given Best way to check function arguments? "Actual or formal argument lists differs in length" Python: Passing variables between functions Print multiple arguments in Python

Examples related to overloading

What is the difference between dynamic and static polymorphism in Java? TypeScript function overloading Constructor overload in TypeScript What is the difference between method overloading and overriding? Differentiate between function overloading and function overriding How do I use method overloading in Python? How can I create a Java method that accepts a variable number of arguments? Python function overloading PHP function overloading What is function overloading and overriding in php?