up vote 1 down vote favorite

Quick question to do with php functions, it may sound silly to some of you but I dont want to get in to bad habits. Is there anything wrong with doing the following?

function do_something($val)
{
  $a = 1;
  if ($val==$a)
  {
    return true;
  }
  return false;
}

Instead of;

function do_something($val)
{
  $a = 1;
  if ($val==$a)
  {
    return true;
  }
  else
  {
    return false;
  }
}

Sorry guys I think my example isn't great. Basically the function could insert data into a database or send an email etc. With these functions I may only need to now whether it was successful or not by returning true or false. I wanted to know whether its suitable that I can use the shorter method instead of the if-else block.

I hope that makes it clearer.

share|improve this question
maybe just a bad example, but of course this should be just return $val==$a; – kuba Apr 15 at 10:53
If you see an if-else which only returns true or false, then you are certainly overcomplicating thing. – Felix Kling Apr 15 at 10:58
feedback

4 Answers

up vote 0 down vote accepted

No, that is perfectly fine, and in fact advised in multiple cases. :)

share|improve this answer
feedback
up vote 4 down vote

Not really. Both works the same. However, it would be much cleaner to write it like this:

function do_something($val)
{
  $a = 1;
  return ($val==$a) ? true : false;
}
share|improve this answer
? true : false after a boolean expression is just confusing and useless – ThiefMaster♦ Apr 15 at 10:53
I know this; Its to help provide him/her with another way of doing simple returns. He might not want to return a bool where return ($val ==$a) wouldn't work as intended. – Brendan Scarvell Apr 15 at 10:55
2  
I think this is more confusing as you don't give a hint what a ternary operator is. – Dan Lee Apr 15 at 10:57
feedback
up vote 2 down vote

That's totally cool, because when returning a value, the function is left and it doesn't matter what follows.

But you could shorten this with

function do_something($val)
{
  $a = 1;
  return $val == $a; // this condition will be evaluated to true/false
}
share|improve this answer
feedback
up vote 1 down vote

The shortest way to do it:

function do_something($val)
{
  return ($val==1) ;
}
share|improve this answer
feedback

Your Answer

 
or
required, but never shown
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.