PHP Function Argument to an array

Question

Can you do something crazy like this

function cool_function($pizza, $ice_cream) { 

   make the arguments in the array into an array 
   return $array_of_paramaters // my new array 

} // end function 

print_r(cool_function); // outputs array(0 => pizza, 1=> ice cream)

Answer 1

Actually, this is pretty easy (and read the manual: func_get_args — Returns an array containing a function's argument list, see as well: Variable-length argument lists):

function cool_function($pizza, $ice_cream) { 
   return func_get_args();
}

but as asked in comments, why do you need this?

Or do you need the variable names? Reflection ^Docs is your friend:

function cool_named($neutron, $electron)
{
    $f = new ReflectionFunction(__FUNCTION__);
    $p = array();    
    foreach($f->getParameters() as $p1)
        $p[] = '$'.$p1->name;

    return $p;
}

var_dump(cool_named());

Or just both? (Edit: taking under-length, optional and over-length parameters into account):

function overall($neutron, $electron, $quark = 'xiaro')
{
    $f = new ReflectionFunction(__FUNCTION__);
    $defined = $f->getParameters();
    $passed = func_get_args() + array_fill(0, count($defined), NULL);

    foreach($defined as &$param)
        $param = '$'.$param->name;

    return array_combine($defined + array_keys($passed), $passed);
}

var_dump(overall('clara', 'peter', 'moon', 'jupiter'));

Answer 2

I'm not sure if you're looking for func_get_args which return all arguments passed to a function, or the ReflectionFunction class.

A basic example of func_get_args:

function cool_function($pizza, $ice_cream) { 
   return func_get_args();
}

But you don't need the arguments to make this work:

function cool_function() { 
   return func_get_args();
}
// cool_function(1,2,3) will return array(1,2,3)

The reflection option:

/**
 * Returns an array of the names of this function
 */
function getMyArgNames($a,$b,$c)
{
    $args = array();
    $refFunc = new ReflectionFunction(__FUNCTION__);
    foreach( $refFunc->getParameters() as $param ){
         $args[] = $param->name;
    }
    return $args;
}

Or, for the really crazy:

/**
 * Returns an associative array of the names of this function mapped 
 * to their values
 */
function getMyArgNames($a,$b,$c)
{
    $received = func_get_args();
    $i = 0;
    $args = array();
    $refFunc = new ReflectionFunction(__FUNCTION__);
    foreach( $refFunc->getParameters() as $param ){
         $args[$param->name] = $received[$i++];
    }
    // include all of those random, optional arguments.
    while($i < count($received)) $args[] = $received[$i++];
    return $args;
}

Answer 3

do you mean

function valuesToArray($value1,$value2){return array($value1,$value2);}

Answer 4

If I got you right, you so it like this:

function cool_function($pizza, $ice_cream) {
   return array($pizza, $ice_cream);
}

but you could simply do that:

$new_var = array($pizza, $ice_cream);