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up vote 0 down vote favorite

I have a setup like this:

function test(){
    function(){
        return "testing!";
    };
    return;
}

echo test();

And I'm trying to get the test() function to return "testing" (in this example) but that doesn't work. What would you advice?

Why are you using an anonymouse function? I have to use an anonymous function for this because I'm using the HttpClient of ReactPHP, here's a basic example of how that works:

$request = $client->request('GET', 'https://api.github.com/repos/reactphp/react/commits');
$request->on('response', function ($response) {
    $buffer = '';

    $response->on('data', function ($data) use (&$buffer) {
        $buffer .= $data;
        echo ".";
    });

    $response->on('end', function () use (&$buffer) {
        $decoded = json_decode($buffer, true);
        $latest = $decoded[0]['commit'];
        $author = $latest['author']['name'];
        $date = date('F j, Y', strtotime($latest['author']['date']));

        echo "\n";
        echo "Latest commit on react was done by {$author} on {$date}\n";
        echo "{$latest['message']}\n";
    });
});
$request->on('end', function ($error, $response) {
    echo $error;
});
$request->end();

In the example above they echo the content of the page, but I'd like to return it instead, any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

share|improve this question
Does $request really work asynchronous? Might there be a situation, when calling script ends, before request is done? – CORRUPT May 29 at 3:54
How do you run / execute $request ? – CORRUPT May 29 at 4:05

2 Answers

up vote 1 down vote

You can't. That's impossible. You have to return the value to the outer function, which must then return its own value:

function test(){
    $fn = function(){
        return "testing!";
    };

    return $fn();
}

Your inner function doesn't get to return out of the outer function.

share|improve this answer
Right, I could add a return in the outer function no problemo but I can't assign the function to a variable. – user2019515 May 29 at 3:17
Well, you need to immediately invoke the function and return its value then. – meagar May 29 at 3:18
I can't invoke it right away, reactPHP calls the function when all the data is received. – user2019515 May 29 at 3:23
1  
Then re-read my answer: You can't, that's impossible. Especially if the inner function is being called asynchronously; the outer function will have already returned before the inner return is reached. It's now double impossible. – meagar May 29 at 3:24
@meagar Thank you for the explanation. – user2019515 May 29 at 3:51
up vote 1 down vote

How about call_user_func?

function test(){
    return call_user_func(function(){
        return "testing!";
    });
}

echo test();

According to the docs:

Return Values

Returns the return value of the callback, or FALSE on error.

Further Reading

call_user_func documentation

Edit:

I suggest you look into using a different library for your http requests that is not asynchronous.

Alternatively you can do some busy waiting while you wait for the request to complete. To do this have a variable in the outermost scope set to null. Set this variable to the request's result once you get it. After you've set up all the callbacks keep checking the variable for something other than null (sleep in between checks). Also set a callback on error to set this variable to something like false so that the program can get out of the loop if it fails.

share|improve this answer
Unfortunately not, because reactPHP will call the function when the response is complete, I can't immediately call it. – user2019515 May 29 at 3:22
@user2019515 waht do you mean? Why do you need nested anonymous function then? – CORRUPT May 29 at 3:25
@CORRUPT Please see the example. That's how reactPHP works, you need to provide a callback function. – user2019515 May 29 at 3:52

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