How to read function definition in PHP manual

Question

I was going through the PHP documentation for this function below and trying to understand what [, before the 2nd parameter means?

string basename ( string         


        

Answer 1

[] just indicates that the argument is optional. In your example:

string basename ( string $path [, string $suffix ] )

This is a function basename which takes a $path argument and, optionally a $suffix argument. It returns a string.

There may also be an initial value set, as in your second example:

array fgetcsv ( resource $handle [, int $length = 0 [, string $delimiter = "," [, string $enclosure = '"' [, string $escape = "\" ]]]] )

In this case the $length argument is optional and the value 0 will be used if it is not supplied.