Access a global variable in a PHP function

Question

According to the most programming languages scope rules, I can access variables that are defined outside of functions inside them, but why doesn\'t this code work?

Answer 1

Another way to do it:

UPDATE 2020-01-13: requested by Peter Mortensen

As of PHP 5.3.0 we have anonymous functions support that can create closures. A closure can access the variable which is created outside of its scope.

In the example, the closure is able to access $data because it was declared in the use clause.