Removing a function at runtime in PHP (without the runkit extension)

Question

I know this question seems hacky and weird, but is there a way to remove a function at runtime in PHP?

I have a recursive function declared in a \"if\" block and wan

Answer 1

Initial function definition looks like:

// includes/std_functions.php
if (! function_exists('the_function')) {
  function the_function() {
    global $thefunction;
    return call_user_func_array($thefunction, func_get_args());
  }
  $GLOBALS['thefunction'] = function() {
    echo 'foo';
  };
}

if you have a test condition that allows you to rewrite code:

// somewhere in your code
if () {
  $GLOBALS['thefunction'] = function() {
    echo 'bar';
  };
}

if you are overloading in another include that will be loaded before or after the original file:

// includes/custom_functions.php
if (! function_exists('the_function')) {
  function the_function() {
    global $thefunction;
    return call_user_func_array($thefunction, func_get_args());
  }
}
$GLOBALS['thefunction'] = function() {
  echo 'bar';
};