What is return type in PHP
Sophia Edwards
Published Mar 20, 2026
What is return type declarations in PHP7? Return type declaration is specifying the expected data types of the result that a function or a class method should return. Due to return type declaration, PHP, for example, can convert the integer result into a string before returning the result of the function.
What is function return type in PHP?
Return type declaration specifies the type of value that a function should return. Following types for return types can be declared. float.
How do you define return type?
In computer programming, the return type (or result type) defines and constrains the data type of the value returned from a subroutine or method. In many programming languages (especially statically-typed programming languages such as C, C++, Java) the return type must be explicitly specified when declaring a function.
What is return statement in PHP?
The purpose of return statement in PHP is to return control of program execution back to the environment from which it was called. … If return statement occurs inside a function, execution of current function is terminated, handing over the control back to the environment from which it was called.When did PHP add return types?
Using void as Return Type for Functions. As mentioned, support for return type declarations was added in PHP 7.0, while PHP 7.1 introduced the void return type. In a function returning void, the return statement should either be empty or omitted altogether. NULL is not to be confused with void type.
How can I return two variables in PHP?
PHP doesn’t support to return multiple values in a function. Inside a function when the first return statement is executed, it will direct control back to the calling function and second return statement will never get executed.
How do you return a value?
To return a value from a function, you must include a return statement, followed by the value to be returned, before the function’s end statement. If you do not include a return statement or if you do not specify a value after the keyword return, the value returned by the function is unpredictable.
What is the return value of print statement in PHP?
print always returns an integer value, which is 1. Using print, we cannot pass multiple arguments. print is slower than echo statement.What is difference between ECHO and return in PHP?
echo outputs content to the console or the web browser. Example: echo “Hey, this is now showing up on your screen!”; return returns a value at the end of a function or method.
How do you return a value within a function PHP?Returning values ¶ Values are returned by using the optional return statement. Any type may be returned, including arrays and objects. This causes the function to end its execution immediately and pass control back to the line from which it was called. See return for more information.
Article first time published onWhat is the return type open method?
What is the return type open() method? Explanation: open() method returns a bool value indicating whether the file is opened or some error has occurred. 10.
What is the difference between return type void and int?
You return void to indicate that nothing is returned. An int return may or may not indicate that calculations have been performed (e.g. could just be a return code). Both have the same behavior and no warning is displayed.
What is the default return type?
Explanation: The default return data type in a function is int. In other words commonly if it is not explicitly mentioned the default return data type of a function by the compiler will be of an integer data type.
What are union types PHP?
A “union type” accepts values of multiple different data types, rather than a single one. If the programming language supports union types, you can declare a variable in multiple types. For example, there can be a function that can accept the variable of type “string” or “float” as a parameter.
What is return void in PHP?
A void return type has been introduced. Functions declared with void as their return type must either omit their return statement altogether, or use an empty return statement. … Attempting to use a void function’s return value simply evaluates to null , with no warnings emitted.
Can we return NULL in PHP?
As of PHP 7.1. 0, return values can be marked as nullable by prefixing the type name with a question mark (?). This signifies that the function returns either the specified type or NULL. Fatal error: A function with return type must return a value (did you mean “return null;” instead of “return;”?) in …
What is the use of return function?
When a return statement is used in a function body, the execution of the function is stopped. If specified, a given value is returned to the function caller. For example, the following function returns the square of its argument, x , where x is a number. If the value is omitted, undefined is returned instead.
How do you return a function?
A return statement ends the execution of a function, and returns control to the calling function. Execution resumes in the calling function at the point immediately following the call. A return statement can return a value to the calling function. For more information, see Return type.
Which type of procedure returns a value?
A Function procedure returns a value to the calling code either by executing a Return statement or by encountering an Exit Function or End Function statement.
Can I return 2 variables?
4 Answers. You cannot explicitly return two variables from a single function, but there are various ways you could concatenate the two variables in order to return them.
How do you return more than one value?
- By using pointers.
- By using structures.
- By using Arrays.
How do you return an array from a function in PHP?
php function dofoo() { $array[“a”] = “Foo”; $array[“b”] = “Bar”; $array[“c”] = “Baz”; return $array; } $foo = dofoo(); ?> Without returning an array, the only other way to pass data back to the calling script is by accepting parameters by reference and changing them inside the function.
Is Echo a return?
Unlike some other language constructs, echo does not have any return value, so it cannot be used in the context of an expression. … The major differences to print are that echo accepts multiple arguments and doesn’t have a return value.
Is echo the same as return?
You only use echo when you want to print something onto the screen or within the markup i.e text on the screen, path to an image or title on the top of an html page. Return is commonly used in a function to return the output of the function i.e.
What is the difference between echo and print in PHP?
They are both used to output data to the screen. The differences are small: echo has no return value while print has a return value of 1 so it can be used in expressions. echo can take multiple parameters (although such usage is rare) while print can take one argument. echo is marginally faster than print .
How can I return multiple arrays in PHP?
Another option to consider is to use write parameters. Then, to call: $arr1 = array(); $arr2 = foobar($arr1); This won’t be useful if you always need to return two arrays, but it can be used to always return one array and return the other only in certain cases.
What are the different data types in PHP?
- String.
- Integer.
- Float (floating point numbers – also called double)
- Boolean.
- Array.
- Object.
- NULL.
- Resource.
How many types of arrays are there in PHP?
In PHP, there are three types of arrays: Indexed arrays – Arrays with a numeric index. Associative arrays – Arrays with named keys. Multidimensional arrays – Arrays containing one or more arrays.
What is returning reference?
When a function returns a reference, it returns an implicit pointer to its return value. This way, a function can be used on the left side of an assignment statement. For example, consider this simple program −
How do I return a PHP file?
ConditionReturn valueIf called from within a functionReturns the argument of the function.
Does return exit function PHP?
PHP return statement immediately terminates the execution of a function when it is called from within that function. ,This function is also used to terminate the execution of an eval() function or script file. ,If this function is called from a global scope, the function stops the execution of the current script.