[SOLVED] Optional function argument's default value as a variable

[aye]

Hi,

I have a class that takes care of the MySQL connection. The constructor looks like this (first line): (yes, it's PHP4)

function MySQL($database = $this->database)

where $this->database contains the default database name. However, this doesn't seems to work (don't get why, doesn't seem like invalid syntax). When executed I get the following error:

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_VARIABLE

Am I doing something wrong, or is it just not possible to declare an optional function argument's default value as a variable?

 

I know I could do something like this (but it doesn't seem like the optimal thing to do):

function MySQL($database = NULL)
{
if($database == NULL) $database = $this->database;
(...)

 

Any help would be very much appreciated!

[dptr1988]

Yes, the default value can NOT be  a variable

 

http://us3.php.net/manual/en/functions.arguments.php

 

The example you showed with the NULL default value is the way I do it. It's not that bad.

[aye]

ok, thanks for your help!