Formatting an array value inside a Heredoc

Question

I was wondering why I can\'t do something like {number_format($row[\'my_number\'])} inside a Heredoc. Is there any way around this without having to resort to defin

Answer 1

You can execute functions in a HEREDOC string by using {$ variable expressions. You however need to define a variable for the function name beforehand:

$number_format = "number_format";

$table .= <<
      {$row['my_number']} // WORKS
      $myNumber // WORKS
      {$number_format($row['my_number'])} // DOES NOT WORK!
      

So this kind of defeats the HEREDOCs purpose of terseness.

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For readability it might be even more helpful to define a generic/void function name like $expr = "htmlentities"; for this purpose. Then you can utilize almost any complex expression and all global functions in heredoc or doublequotes:

    "     {$expr(number_format($num + 7) . ':')}    "

And I think {$expr( is just more obvious to anyone who comes across such a construct. (Otherwise it's just an odd workaround.)