Any way to specify optional parameter values in PHP?

Question

Let\'s say I\'ve got a PHP function foo:

function foo($firstName = \'john\', $lastName = \'doe\') {
    echo $firstName . \" \" . $lastName;
}
// foo(); --&g         


        

Answer 1

If this is used very often, just define a new specialized function :

function person($firstName = 'john', $lastName = 'doe') {
    return $firstName . " " . $lastName;
}

function usualFirtNamedPerson($lastName = 'doe') {
    return person('john', $lastName);
}

print(usualFirtNamedPerson('smith')); --> john smith

Note that you could also change the default value of $lastname in the process if you wish.

When a new function is estimated overbloated, just call you function with all parameters. If you want to make it more clear, you can prestore your literals in fin named variable or use comments.

$firstName = 'Zeno';
$lastName = 'of Elea';
print(person($firstName, $lastName));
print(person(/* $firstName = */ 'Bertrand', /* $lastName = */ 'Russel'));

Ok, this is not as short and elegant as person($lastName='Lennon'), but it seems you can't have it in PHP. And that's not the sexiest way to code it, with super metaprogramming trick or whatever, but what solution would you prefer to encounter in a maintenance process?