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In most cases we will want to do more than just echo a value inside of our functions. In order to do that we will need to have the function 'return' a value. This way we are able to store data from a function call to any type of value variable.
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[MUSIC]
0:00
In most cases, we'll wanna do more than
just echo a value inside of our functions.
0:04
In order to do that, we'll need to have
the function return a value.
0:10
This way, we're able to store data from a
function call,
0:14
to any type of value variable.
0:17
Those can include arrays, integers,
Booleans, so on and so forth.
0:20
A return statement will also end the
function's execution immediately.
0:24
This way, we can pass control back to the
line that the function was called from.
0:29
Allowing us to return at different
locations inside our function.
0:33
Although a function cannot return multiple
values, it can however return an array,
0:38
containing the multiple values inside of a
single data type.
0:43
Let's jump over to workspaces, and work
with the return statement.
0:48
>> So as we were talking about earlier,
0:52
we're gonna wanna do more than just echo
values inside of our functions.
0:54
We're gonna wanna return values.
0:58
So there is a keyword in PHP called
return,
1:00
that we can use inside of our functions.
1:04
There're a lot of great uses of return,
1:07
more than just returning the value of
whatever we want.
1:09
So, let's create a couple of small
functions to just sort of
1:13
see what we can do.
1:17
So to get started, let's create a very
simple function called Hello,
1:19
just like before.
1:22
[BLANK_AUDIO]
1:23
Okay?
1:25
And then open and
1:26
close our curly braces to give ourselves
function boundaries there.
1:27
And then inside, we're going to return a
value.
1:30
All right, so let's return the same kind
of string we would before,
1:33
like Hello World.
1:38
Now the way we're gonna do that, instead
of saying echo, we'll say return.
1:40
All right?
And then we'll say return, and
1:45
then do our typical string here.
1:48
Hello World.
1:50
All right?
Close it with a semicolon, and now when we
1:54
call the function, when we run just Hello,
it won't really do us any good.
1:57
We need to store this somewhere.
2:03
So the output of this needs to do
something.
2:04
So we'll store it to a variable called
greeting.
2:07
[BLANK_AUDIO]
2:10
$greeting is equal to the output or
2:12
the return value on line four of the
function Hello.
2:15
So, we'll go down here now, and if we save
this and
2:19
run our preview, let's see what it does.
2:21
[BLANK_AUDIO]
2:24
Okay?
You'll see we actually have no output.
2:25
The reason why, is we're not echoing.
2:28
We're just returning.
2:29
But if we say echo and then $greeting, all
right?
2:30
And then hit Save, go back over and
refresh.
2:36
Now it'll say hello world.
2:40
It's actually outputting that variable,
which the variable is just a string, but
2:42
the string was generated by our function,
which you can see on line seven.
2:46
Okay, let's do a little bit more with
this.
2:52
So instead of just saying hello, we're
gonna pass on an argument here.
2:54
We're gonna say $name.
2:57
All right.
2:59
And then, we're gonna do a couple of, of
tests in here.
3:00
So we'll say if and then open and close,
name.
3:04
[BLANK_AUDIO]
3:09
Okay?
3:10
Equals Mike, right?
3:11
Then what are we gonna do?
3:14
We will actually go here and
3:16
we'll return instead of Hello World, we'll
say Hello Mike.
3:17
[BLANK_AUDIO]
3:22
All right?
Make sure we do our curly braces here.
3:24
All right, all our tabs are good.
3:27
So that will be pretty good as long as
it's equal to Mike.
3:29
Else we wanna do something different.
3:33
Otherwise, so we'll say else
3:35
we'll just say return not echo, hello
stranger.
3:40
[BLANK_AUDIO]
3:46
Doesn't need to be caps.
3:48
All right.
Close our single quotes and
3:51
then a semicolon.
3:53
And so now, when we pass through name and
say it's Mike.
3:54
We should get still an echoed greeting.
4:00
So let's go back over, hit Refresh, except
we're gonna get, Hello Mike.
4:01
Now if we were to change it to something
else.
4:06
So Chris, hit Save, head back over and
4:08
then hit Refresh, now it says, hello
stranger.
4:11
Okay, so you can see here we're returning
a value here, in a conditional.
4:16
Just the same way we were before.
4:20
So we can have multiple return values, but
4:22
we cannot return more than one value from
a single function.
4:25
So it only has one return clause.
4:29
So once it runs the return, it exits the
function.
4:31
Let's say we wanna do something with an
integer calculation.
4:36
So what we'll do is we'll say sum and
4:39
then we'll do $a and $b as our two
variables.
4:44
Actually that's not a good sum 'cuz that
is an internal word.
4:48
We'll say add_up.
4:51
Let's say that's our function.
4:54
Okay, so now, I'm gonna get rid of this,
and
4:56
then we're going to say our value is equal
to add_up.
5:00
And we are going to add up two numbers.
5:07
So the first argument would be two, the
second argument would
5:09
be the integer four, and then we will echo
our value.
5:14
All right.
5:19
So that won't do anything cuz we haven't
returned anything.
5:19
So we need to do a return.
5:22
Return and then we'll do $a,
plus $b.
5:23
Close it with a semi colon, and then go
look at our preview.
5:30
Six.
5:35
Exactly what we were looking for.
5:35
Okay, so that's a way we can return
integer values, we can return strings.
5:37
If we need to return multiple values, we
can.
5:42
But we need to do it with an array.
5:46
So let's say we wanna actually return the
two values that came in,
5:48
as well as the summed value.
5:53
So, the way we'll do that, is we're gonna
create an internal array,
5:55
we'll just call it $arr.
5:59
And we will set it equal to let's see, the
first value would be,
6:01
let's see, array, go down, keep it tidy.
6:08
All right, so the first value is going to
be $a, okay.
6:12
The next one would be $b, which gives us
our two input values, and
6:17
then finally we'd need our summed value,
which would be $a plus $b.
6:20
So we can just simply say $a plus $b.
6:24
Okay, so we have three different values
here in our array.
6:29
The first one is $a.
6:32
The second one is $b.
6:34
And the third one would be $a plus $b.
6:35
And then to return instead of returning $a
plus $b, we'll just simply return $arr.
6:39
Now, if I was to just echo this value,
let's see what we get back.
6:45
[BLANK_AUDIO]
6:49
Okay, we get a string array.
6:51
Well, we can use an internal function of
PHP, which we'll get into a little bit
6:53
more on internal functions, but we have
one that's called print_r.
6:58
So I'll just say instead of echo, print_r,
and then pass through the value.
7:02
That way we'll actually get to see the
keys and values of the array.
7:09
And back over to our preview and hit
Refresh.
7:13
So here you can see that key zero for the
array is the two, which is our $a.
7:16
Key one would be four, and then our output
value, or key two, would be six.
7:21
So if we wanted to, we wanted to instead
of print up just the whole array,
7:28
we would just say echo, and then value.
7:33
And then the final key, right?
7:36
Which would be two.
7:39
All right, so we'll semi-colon there, end
our statement, and then refresh.
7:40
So now we can get back our value, but
7:44
we also have the a and the b as well, if
we needed to use it.
7:46
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