Adding a hash of options to a function

[calebzahnd]

This would seem like a simple question, but I can't seem to find the answer anywhere. Perhaps I'm asking it wrong.

 

What I'd like to do is add a hash of optional arguments for a function.

 

For example, I might have a function that has two required arguments, and three optional arguments.

 

The only way I know to design this function is to put the arguments in a specific order, and fill them out to the degree needed. So if the 5th argument needs to be called, but the 3rd and 4th don't, you'd still have to give them values.

 

function example($arg1, $arg2, $arg3, $arg4, $arg5)

 

Must be used by:

example('red', 'horse', '', '', 'texas');

 

Is there anyway of designing a function to only use the specified arguments?

 

example('red', 'horse', ['arg5: texas']);

[Psycho]

You could set up your array to take a single parameter of an array of the values.

function example($argArray)
{
    extract($argArray);
     
    //Function continues from here
    //...
}

example(array('arg1'=>'red', 'arg2'=>'horse', 'arg5'=>'texas'));

[ignace]

This problem does not hold only to functional programming but also to OO some solve this problem like:

 

$var = $obj->foo('red', 'horse')
           ->setState('texas');

 

getFoo() returns an object that can be configured

 

function setState($state) {
    //do bla en blabla
    return $this;
}