Whilst it was correct 11 years ago, the statement of Dan D is not so correct any moreю Anonymous functions are now objects of a class Closure and are safely collected by garbage collector.
(PHP 4 >= 4.0.1, PHP 5, PHP 7)
create_function — Crée une fonction anonyme
Cette fonctionnalité est OBSOLÈTE à partir de PHP 7.2.0 et a été SUPPRIMÉE à partir de PHP 8.0.0.
$args
, string $code
): stringcreate_function() crée une fonction anonyme, à partir des paramètres passés, et retourne un nom de fonction unique.
Cette fonction, en interne, utilise la fonction eval() et donc les exigences en terme de sécurité sont identiques à celles de la fonction eval(). De plus, les performances ne sont pas au rendez-vous et l'usage mémoire est significatif.
Une fonction anonyme native devrait être utilisée à la place.
Généralement, les arguments args
sont
présentés sous la forme d'une chaîne à guillemets simples, et la même
recommandation vaut pour code
.
La raison de l'utilisation des guillemets simples est de protéger
les noms de variables du remplacement par leur valeur. Si vous utilisez
les guillemets doubles, n'oubliez pas d'échapper les noms
de variables (i.e. \$avar
).
args
Les arguments de la fonction.
code
Le code de la fonction.
Retourne un nom de fonction unique, sous la forme d'une chaîne de caractères,
ou false
si une erreur survient.
Exemple #1 Création d'une fonction anonyme avec create_function()
Vous pouvez utiliser cette fonction pour (par exemple) créer une fonction à partir d'informations récoltées durant l'exécution :
<?php
$newfunc = create_function('$a,$b', 'return "ln($a) + ln($b) = " . log($a * $b);');
echo "Nouvelle fonction anonyme : $newfunc\n";
echo $newfunc(2, M_E) . "\n";
// affichera :
// Nouvelle fonction anonyme : lambda_1
// ln(2) + ln(2.718281828459) = 1.6931471805599
?>
Ou, pour pouvoir appliquer une fonction générique à une liste d'arguments.
Exemple #2 Traitement générique par fonction avec create_function()
<?php
function process($var1, $var2, $farr)
{
foreach ($farr as $f) {
echo $f($var1, $var2) . "\n";
}
}
// Création d'une série de fonctions mathématiques
$f1 = 'if ($a >=0) {return "b*a^2 = ".$b*sqrt($a);} else {return false;}';
$f2 = "return \"min(b^2+a, a^2,b) = \".min(\$a*\$a+\$b,\$b*\$b+\$a);";
$f3 = 'if ($a > 0 && $b != 0) {return "ln(a)/b = ".log($a)/$b; } else { return false; }';
$farr = array(
create_function('$x,$y', 'return "un peu de trigo : ".(sin($x) + $x*cos($y));'),
create_function('$x,$y', 'return "une hypoténuse : ".sqrt($x*$x + $y*$y);'),
create_function('$a,$b', $f1),
create_function('$a,$b', $f2),
create_function('$a,$b', $f3)
);
echo "\nUtilisation de la première liste de fonctions anonymes\n";
echo "paramétres : 2.3445, M_PI\n";
process(2.3445, M_PI, $farr);
// Maintenant une liste de fonctions sur chaîne de caractères
$garr = array(
create_function('$b,$a', 'if (strncmp($a, $b, 3) == 0) return "** \"$a\" '.
'and \"$b\"\n** Look the same to me! (looking at the first 3 chars)";'),
create_function('$a,$b', '; return "CRCs : " . crc32($a) . ", ".crc32($b);'),
create_function('$a,$b', '; return "similarité (a,b) = " . similar_text($a, $b, &$p) . "($p%)";')
);
echo "\nUtilisation de la seconde liste de fonctions anonymes\n";
process("Twas brilling and the slithy toves", "Twas the night", $garr);
?>
L'exemple ci-dessus va afficher :
Utilisation de la première liste de fonctions anonymes paramètres : 2.3445, M_PI un peu de trigo : -1.6291725057799 une hypoténuse : 3.9199852871011 b*a^2 = 4.8103313314525 min(b^2+a, a^2,b) = 8.6382729035898 ln(a)/b = 0.27122299212594 Utilisation de la seconde liste de fonctions anonymes ** "Twas the night" and "Twas brilling and the slithy toves" ** Ces chaînes se ressemblent ! (regardez les trois premiers caractères) CRCs: -725381282, 342550513 similarité (a,b) = 11(45.833333333333%)
Mais l'utilisation la plus courante des fonctions lambda est la fonction de rappel, par exemple, lors de l'utilisation de array_walk() ou usort()
Exemple #3 Utilisation de fonctions anonymes comme fonction de rappel
<?php
$av = array("la ", "une ", "cette ", "une certaine ");
array_walk($av, create_function('&$v,$k', '$v = $v . "maison";'));
print_r($av);
?>
L'exemple ci-dessus va afficher :
Array ( [0] => la maison [1] => une maison [2] => cette maison [3] => une certaine maison )
un tableau de chaînes de caractères ordonnées de la plus courte à la plus longue
<?php
$sv = array("petite", "longue", "une très longue chaîne", "une phrase toute entière");
print_r($sv);
?>
L'exemple ci-dessus va afficher :
Array ( [0] => petite [1] => longue [2] => une très longue chaîne [3] => une phrase toute entière )
ordonnées de la plus longue à la plus courte
<?php
usort($sv, create_function('$a,$b','return strlen($b) - strlen($a);'));
print_r($sv);
?>
L'exemple ci-dessus va afficher :
Array ( [0] => une phrase toute entière [1] => une très longue chaîne [2] => longue [3] => petite )
Whilst it was correct 11 years ago, the statement of Dan D is not so correct any moreю Anonymous functions are now objects of a class Closure and are safely collected by garbage collector.
Beware when using anonymous functions in PHP as you would in languages like Python, Ruby, Lisp or Javascript. As was stated previously, the allocated memory is never released; they are not objects in PHP -- they are just dynamically named global functions -- so they don't have scope and are not subject to garbage collection.
So, if you're developing anything remotely reusable (OO or otherwise), I would avoid them like the plague. They're slow, inefficient and there's no telling if your implementation will end up in a large loop. Mine ended up in an iteration over ~1 million records and quickly exhasted my 500MB-per-process limit.
Try this to boost performance of your scripts (increase maxCacheSize):
<?php
runkit_function_copy('create_function', 'create_function_native');
runkit_function_redefine('create_function', '$arg,$body', 'return __create_function($arg,$body);');
function __create_function($arg, $body) {
static $cache = array();
static $maxCacheSize = 64;
static $sorter;
if ($sorter === NULL) {
$sorter = function($a, $b) {
if ($a->hits == $b->hits) {
return 0;
}
return ($a->hits < $b->hits) ? 1 : -1;
};
}
$crc = crc32($arg . "\\x00" . $body);
if (isset($cache[$crc])) {
++$cache[$crc][1];
return $cache[$crc][0];
}
if (sizeof($cache) >= $maxCacheSize) {
uasort($cache, $sorter);
array_pop($cache);
}
$cache[$crc] = array($cb = eval('return function('.$arg.'){'.$body.'};'), 0);
return $cb;
}
?>
In the process of migrating a PHP4 codebase to PHP5, I ran into a peculiar problem. In the library, every class was derived from a generic class called 'class_container'. 'class_container' contained an array called runtime_functions and a method called class_function that was as follows:
<?php
function class_function($name,$params,$code) {
$this->runtime_functions[$name] = create_function($params,$code);
}
?>
In a subclass of class_container, there was a function that utilized class_function() to store some custom lambda functions that were self-referential:
<?php
function myfunc($name,$code) {
$this->class_function($name,'$theobj','$this=&$theobj;'.$code);
}
?>
In PHP4, this worked just fine. The idea was to write blocks of code at the subclass level, such as "echo $this->id;", then simply $MYOBJ->myfunc("go","echo $this->id;"); and later call it like $MYOBJ->runtime_functions["go"]();
It essentially worked exactly like binding anonymous functions to objects in Javascript.
Note how the "$this" keyword had to be manually redefined for the $code block to work.
In PHP5, however, you can't redeclare $this without getting a fatal error, so the code had to be updated to:
<?php
function myfunc($name,$code) {
$this->class_function($name,'$this',$code);
}
?>
Apparently create_function() allows you to set $this via a function argument, allowing you to bind anonymous functions to instantiated objects. Thought it might be useful to somebody.
Note that using __FUNCTION__ in a an anonymous function, will always result '__lambda_func'.
<?php
$fn = create_function('', 'echo __FUNCTION__;');
$fn();
// Result: __lambda_func
echo $fn;
// Result: ºlambda_2 (the actual first character cannot be displayed)
?>
This means that a anonymous function can't be used recursively. The following code (recursively counting to 10) results in an error:
<?php
$fn2 = create_function('$a', 'echo $a; if ($a < 10) call_user_func(__FUNCTION__, $a++);');
$fn2(1);
// Warning: call_user_func(__lambda_func) [function.call-user-func]: First argument is expected to be a valid callback in T:/test/test.php(21) : runtime-created function on line 1
?>
In regards to the recursion issue by info at adaniels dot nl
Anon function recursion by referencing the function variable in the correct scope.
<?php
$fn2 = create_function('$a', 'echo $a; if ($a < 10) call_user_func($GLOBALS["fn2"], ++$a);');
$fn2(1);
?>
For who *really* needs the create_function() on php8 (because of legacy code that cannot be changed easily) there is this: "composer require lombax85/create_function".
Here has been some discussion about the "memory leak" create_function() can create.
What create_function() actually does, is creating an ordinary function with name chr(0).lambda_n where n is some number:
<?php
$f = create_function('', 'return 1;');
function lambda_1() { return 2; }
$g = "lambda_1";
echo $g(); // outputs: 2
$h = chr(0)."lambda_1";
echo $h(); // outputs: 1
?>
Best wapper:
<?php
function create_lambda($args, $code) {
static $func;
if (!isset($func[$args][$code])) {
$func[$args][$code] = create_function($args, $code);
}
return $func[$args][$code];
}
The following function is very useful for creating an alias of a user function.
For built-in functions, it is less useful because default values are not available, so function aliases for built-in functions must have all parameters supplied, whether optional or not.
<?php
function create_function_alias($function_name, $alias_name)
{
if(function_exists($alias_name))
return false;
$rf = new ReflectionFunction($function_name);
$fproto = $alias_name.'(';
$fcall = $function_name.'(';
$need_comma = false;
foreach($rf->getParameters() as $param)
{
if($need_comma)
{
$fproto .= ',';
$fcall .= ',';
}
$fproto .= '$'.$param->getName();
$fcall .= '$'.$param->getName();
if($param->isOptional() && $param->isDefaultValueAvailable())
{
$val = $param->getDefaultValue();
if(is_string($val))
$val = "'$val'";
$fproto .= ' = '.$val;
}
$need_comma = true;
}
$fproto .= ')';
$fcall .= ')';
$f = "function $fproto".PHP_EOL;
$f .= '{return '.$fcall.';}';
eval($f);
return true;
}
?>
Just a little toy I thought up, I would like to share. Creates an anonymous function, which let you use a class as a function.
In php 5.3 there is support for real functors (trough __invoke):
<?php
function createFunctor($className){
$content = "
static \$class;
if(!\$class){
\$class = new $className;
}
return \$class->run(\$args);
";
$f = create_function('$args', $content);
return $f;
}
class test {
public function run($args){
print $args;
}
}
$test = createFunctor('test');
$test('hello world');
?>
In response to kkaiser at revolution-records dot net's note, even tho PHP will allow you to use
<?
$myfunc = create_function('$this', $code);
?>
You can NOT use a reference to "$this" inside of the anonymous function, as PHP will complain that you are using a reference to "$this" in a non-object context.
Currently, I have not found a work-around for this...
$f = create_function('','echo "function defined by create_function";');
$f();
result:
function defined by create_function
You may define no return in function body while you are using create_function.
Here's how to call a runtime-created function from another runtime-created function:
<?php
$get_func = create_function('$func', 'return substr($func,1);');
$get_value = create_function('$index','return pow($index,$index);');
$another_func = create_function('$a', '$func="\x00"."'.$get_func($get_value).'";return $func($a);');
echo $another_func(2); # result is 4
?>
In reply to info at adaniels dot nl:
You may not be able to use __FUNCTION__ in a lambda (thanks for pointing it out; I was having that problem just now), but you can use $GLOBALS to work around it if you're assigning the function to a variable. I reimplemented array_walk_recursive() in PHP4 like this:
<?php
$array_walk_recursive = create_function('&$array, $callback',
'foreach($array as $element) {
if(is_array($element)) {
$funky = $GLOBALS["array_walk_recursive"];
$funky($element, $callback);
}
else {
$callback($element);
}
}');
?>
Beware! This is merely a convenience function that generates a unique name for a regular function. It is *not* a closure or even an anonymous function. It is just a regular function that gets named for you.
Functions created by create_function() cannot return a value by reference. The function below creates a function that can. The arguments are the same as create_function(). Note that these arguments are passed, unmodified, to eval(), so be sure that data passed in is sanitized.
<?php
/**
* create_ref_function
* Create an anonymous (lambda-style) function
* which returns a reference
* see http://php.net/create_function
*/
function
create_ref_function( $args, $code )
{
static $n = 0;
$functionName = sprintf('ref_lambda_%d',++$n);
$declaration = sprintf('function &%s(%s) {%s}',$functionName,$args,$body);
eval($declaration);
return $functionName;
}
?>
If you were checking to see if a function is made properly, this would be a better way of checking:
<?php
$fnc = @create_function('$arg1,$arg2,$arg3', 'return true;');
# make that function whatever you want
if (empty($fnc)) {
die('Could not create function $fnc.');
}
# although, the follow will NOT work
if (empty(create_function('$arg', 'return $arg;'))) {
die('Could not create anonymous function.');
}
# you would get an error regarding not being able to use a
# return value in writeable context (i.e. a return value is
# a const in C, and the function empty() doesn't use a
# const void* parameter
?>
Beware of memory-leaks, the garbage-collection seems to 'oversee' dynamically created functions!
I used a function like this to replace special characters in links with their htmlentities:
<?php
$text = preg_replace_callback (
"/(<(frame src|a href|form action)=\")([^\"]+)(\"[^>]*>)/i",
create_function (
'$matches',
'return $matches[1] . htmlentities ($matches[3]) . $matches[4];'
),
$text);
?>
After 1000 calls, the process used about 5MB more than before. In my situation this boosted up the memory-size of one PHP-process up to over 100MB!
In such cases, better store the function in a global variable.
[EDIT by danbrown AT php DOT net: Combined user-corrected post with previous (incorrect) post.]
You can't refer to a class variable from an anonymous function inside a class method using $this. Anonymous functions don't inherit the method scope. You'll have to do this:
<?php
class AnyClass {
var $classVar = 'some regular expression pattern';
function classMethod() {
$_anonymFunc = create_function( '$arg1, $arg2', 'if ( eregi($arg2, $arg1) ) { return true; } else { return false; } ' );
$willWork = $_anonymFunc('some string', $classVar);
}
}
?>
Create_function enables the ability to change the scope of functions. You might have a class where it needs to define a GLOBAL function. This is possible, like:
<?php
class blah {
function blah() {
$z=create_function('$arg1string','return "function-z-".$arg1string;');
$GLOBALS['z']=$z;
}
}
$blah_object=new blah;
$result=$GLOBALS['z']('Argument 1 String');
echo $result;
?>
Making a function escape it's defined scope can be useful in many situations.
How do you use function which is created by create_function() as class method?
<?php
class Hoge {
var $lamda;
function set($lamda) {
$this->lamda = $lamda;
}
function callLamda() {
$func = $this->lamda;
return $func();
}
}
$newfunc = create_function('', 'echo "hoge<br>\n";');
$h = new Hoge;
$h->set( $newfunc );
$h->callLamda();
?>
It works fine. :-)
If you need to upgrade more than one `create_function` to anonymous function, I'm working on a tool that makes dev's life much easier and adaptable for new versions of anything in PHP.
It's tested on 30+ various (and really weird :)) cases, like:
-$callback = create_function('$a', 'return "<cas:proxy>$a</cas:proxy>";');
+$callback = function ($a) {
+ return "<cas:proxy>{$a}</cas:proxy>";
+};
Includes concat (.), string quotes and inclined function calls:
-$func = create_function('$atts, $content = null','return "<div class=\"' . $class_list . '\">" . do_shortcode($content) . "</div>";' );
+$func = function ($atts, $content = null) use ($class_list) {
+ return "<div class=\"{$class_list}\">" . do_shortcode($content) . "</div>";
+};
Do you want to automate the hard work?
1. Instal Rector
composer require rector/rector --dev
2. Create config
# rector.yml
services:
Rector\Php\Rector\FuncCall\CreateFunctionToAnonymousFunctionRector: ~
3. Upgrade your Code
vendor/bin/rector process src --config rector.yml --dry-run
vendor/bin/rector process src --config rector.yml
How to save memory-space:
<?php
function create_lambda($args, $code) {
static $list = array();
$i = "{$args}\0{$code}";
if (!isset($list[$i])) {
$list[$i] = create_function($args, $code);
}
return $list[$i];
}
If you create a function that will only be used from an object context (i.e. you want a dynamic method that can then call methods from the original object, still maintaining access to the object's runtime values) then you can use the following functions I have created (ob_lambda_func and ob_lambda) to enable the dynamic function to easily call *public* methods on the object, in their runtime contexts:
<?php
/* the OB Lambda functions allow a lambda function to call a method from its callee's object */
if(!function_exists('ob_lambda_func')){
function ob_lambda_func($method, $args) {
if((phpversion()+0)<5.1 || (substr(phpversion(),2)+0)<1.1)
die("\nError: This script requires PHP v5.1.1+!\n");
$bt=debug_backtrace();
foreach($bt as $xsp) {
if(isset($xsp['object'])) {
if(!method_exists($xsp['object'], $method)) continue;
return call_user_func_array(array($xsp['object'], $method), $args);
}
}
if(!function_exists($method))
die("\nOB: Internal Error! ($method)");
return call_user_func_array($method, $args);
}}
if(!function_exists('ob_lambda')){
function ob_lambda($method) {
return create_function('','$args=func_get_args(); return ob_lambda_func('.var_export($method, true).',$args);');
}}
/* Usage:
* For each callable method, store the results of ob_lambda('method_name')
* When a lambda function you call wants to access one of these methods,
* you need to pass it the result of ob_lambda for that method, the easiest
* way is to have one of the lambda functions arguments accept the result
* i.e.: $myFunc=ob_lambda('myMethod');
* $lf1=create_function('$func', '$func( ... args ... )');
* $lf1($myFunc);
* because create_function prepends a \0 to the function name, it is difficult
* to pass the result of ob_lambda to the target function without using an argument
*/
/* here is an example -- lambda function Foo::test can call Foo::Bar and Foo::Baz, and these */
class Foo {
private $bar, $baz, $test;
private $runtimeValue=0;
function __construct() {
$this->runtimeValue=rand();
$this->bar=ob_lambda('Bar');
$this->baz=ob_lambda('Baz');
$this->test=create_function(
'$bar, $baz',
'$bar("Hello, World!"); $baz();'
);
}
function Test() {
$fn=$this->test;
$fn($this->bar, $this->baz);
}
function Bar($a) {
echo "$a: Bar ($this->runtimeValue)\n";
}
function Baz() {
echo "and another! Baz ($this->runtimeValue)\n";
}
}
$foo=new Foo();
// Foo::Bar("Testing Other Method"); <-- this causes fatal error
// (using $this when not in object context)
$foo->Test();
?>
This snippet (with test) shows how the lambda function $foo->test can call Foo::Bar and Foo::Baz without an explicit reference to the original object. The methods are run from their object context, and so can access the runtime-modified variable $foo->runtimeValue, which is set to a random number on construction.
The function definition for $foo->test is the following:
function ($bar, $baz) {
$bar("Hello, World!");
$baz;
}
As you can see, it is clean and simple, with no obvious artifacts from the use of OB Lambda
The expected output should be:
Hello, World!: Bar (440048505)
and another! Baz (440048505)
Or any other random number in place of 440048505
Make sure, before you change your code, that your target server has PHP 5.1.1+, or these functions won't work and will return an error!
Hope this helps anyone as much as it has me! :)
<?
function is_function( &$mixed )
{
if ( is_object( $mixed ) ) {
return ( $mixed instanceof Closure );
} elseif( is_string( $mixed ) ) {
return function_exists( $mixed );
} else {
return false;
}
}
function myfunc(){}
$test = 123;
echo is_function( $test ); //will return false
$test = 'isset';
echo is_function( $test ); //will return false... it's not work with reserved :( ...
$test = 'myfunc';
echo is_function( $test ); //will return true
$test = create_function( '', 'echo 123;' );
echo is_function( $test ); //will return true
$test = function () { echo 123; };
echo is_function( $test ); //will return true
?>
I experimented a bit in creating a lambda function using a variable amount of arguments. While I couldn't find an efficient way to create a random bit of code, I was able to get it to behave as a front end for existing functions (as well as user-defined of course).
The code required me to use the dreaded eval() function to get it to use a variable amount of parameters, so be sure that all input is thoroughly cleaned if derived from the user.
<?php
function run_function( $function )
{
// Get Arguments, Unset Exisitng Parameter
$params = func_get_args();
unset( $params[0] );
if( ( $count = count( $params ) ) > 0 )
{
$args = '$a';
$inc = 'b';
// Create Argument String - Formats as '$a, $b, $c' Per Number of Arguments
for( $x = 1; $x < $count; $x++ )
{
$args .= ', $' . $inc;
$inc++;
}
// Create Lambda Function and Format Paramters
$lambda = create_function( $args, 'return ' . $function . '(' . $args . ');' );
$params = "'" . implode('\', \'', $params) . "'";
// Build and Evaluate Function with Parameters
$eval = '$return = $lambda(' . $params . ');';
eval($eval);
return $return;
}
else
{
return false;
}
}
?>
For most applications you would be better off calling the function normally. Perhaps this little proof of concept may find some use if adapted to work by someone who requires it.
For those who want to create closure with create_function, don't bother, you can't.
Use create_closure instead :p
<?php
//same thing as create_function, but returns a closure..( 5.4)
function create_closure($args, $body){
return eval("return function($args){ {$body} };");
}
?>
neo at gothic-chat d0t de wrote :
Beware of memory-leaks, the garbage-collection seems to 'oversee' dynamically created functions!
Not really...
In fact, PHP can not "unassign" functions. So if you create a function, it won't be deleted until the end of the script, even if you unset the variable containing its name.
If you need to change a part of a function everytime you run a loop, think of a way to make a more general function or try using eval :) (functions are made to be re-used. If you need to run your own piece of code once, eval is much better).
Default values works:
<?php
$f = create_function('$a,$b=3', 'var_dump($a, $b);');
$f(1);
// output:
// int(1)
// int(3)
?>
for those who want to assign it's own name to a function consider this code:
<?php
$fname = 'hello';
$func = sprintf('
function %s($v="") {
Return "$v<BR>";
}
',
$fname
);
eval($func);
echo $fname('Please print it.... please....');
?>
what it does is,
: Creats a function as a string;
: Replaces the function name with $fname value;
: Converts the string into a REAL php code with eval()
: Calls the function using the variable function as declared before ($fname);
Simple, isn't it?
Can work well as an abstraction layer for portability and/or compatibility purposes
Maxim Maletsky
maxim@maxim.cx // PHPBeginner.com
Here is another tricky but usefull techynote, good for adding "plugin" to a existing class :
<?php
class Hoge {
var $lamda;
var $text;
function set($lamda)
{
$this->lamda = $lamda;
}
function callLamda()
{
$func = $this->lamda;
return $func($this);
}
function get()
{
return $this->text;
}
}
$newfunc = create_function('&$class', 'echo $class->get();' );
$h = new Hoge;
$h->text = "Hi there !";
$h->set($newfunc);
$h->callLamda();
?>