How to call a function from a string stored in a variable?

Question

I need to be able to call a function, but the function name is stored in a variable, is this possible? e.g:

function foo ()
{
    //code here
}

function bar ()
{
    //code here
}

$functionName = "foo";
// I need to call the function based on what is $functionName

user_112968 · Answer

$functionName() or call_user_func($functionName)

user_4215651 · Answer

Solution: Use PHP7

Note: For a summarized version, see TL;DR at the end of the answer.

Old Methods

Update: One of the old methods explained here has been removed. Refer to other answers for explanation on other methods, it isn't covered here. By the way, if this answer doesn't help you, you should return upgrading your stuff. PHP 5.6 support has ended in January 2019 (now even PHP 7.2 and 7.3 are not being supported). See supported versions for more information.

As others mentioned, in PHP5 (and also in newer versions like PHP7) we could use variables as function names, use call_user_func() and call_user_func_array(), etc.

New Methods

As of PHP7, there are new ways introduced:

Note: Everything inside brackets means one or more expressions to form something, e.g. means expressions forming a function name.

Dynamic Function Call: Function Name On-the-fly

We can form a function name inside parentheses in just one go:

()(arguments);

For example:

function something(): string
{
    return "something";
}

$bar = "some_thing";

(str_replace("_", "", $bar))(); // something

// Possible, too; but generally, not recommended, because makes your
// code more complicated
(str_replace("_", "", $bar))()();

Note: Although removing the parentheses around str_replace() is not an error, putting parentheses makes code more readable. However, you cannot do that sometimes, e.g. while using . operator. To be consistent, I recommend you to put the parentheses always.

Dynamic Function Call: Callable Property

A useful example would be in the context of objects: If you have stored a callable in a property, you have to call it this way:

($object->{})();

As a simple example:

// Suppose we're in a class method context
($this->eventHandler)();

Obviously, calling it as $this->eventHandler() is plain wrong: By that you mean calling a method named eventHandler.

Dynamic Method Call: Method Name On-the-fly

Just like dynamic function calls, we can do the same way with method calls, surrounded by curly braces instead of parentheses (for extra forms, navigate to TL;DR section):

$object->{}(arguments);
$object::{}(arguments);

See it in an example:

class Foo
{
    public function another(): string
    {
        return "something";
    }
}

$bar = "another thing";

(new Something())->{explode(" ", $bar)[0]}(); // something

Dynamic Method Call: The Array Syntax

A more elegant way added in PHP7 is the following:

user_83819 · Answer

Yes, it is possible:

function foo($msg) {
    echo $msg."
";
}
$var1 = "foo";
$var1("testing 1,2,3");

Source: http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/php/2001/05/17/php_foundations.html?page=2

user_70393 · Answer

For the sake of completeness, you can also use eval():

$functionName = "foo()";
eval($functionName);

However, call_user_func() is the proper way.

user_71399 · Answer

Use the call_user_func function.

user_5245585 · Answer

What I learnt from this question and the answers. Thanks all!

Let say I have these variables and functions:

$functionName1 = "sayHello";
$functionName2 = "sayHelloTo";
$functionName3 = "saySomethingTo";

$friend = "John";
$datas = array(
    "something"=>"how are you?",
    "to"=>"Sarah"
);

function sayHello()
{
echo "Hello!";
}

function sayHelloTo($to)
{
echo "Dear $to, hello!";
}

function saySomethingTo($something, $to)
{
echo "Dear $to, $something";
}

To call function without arguments

// Calling sayHello()
call_user_func($functionName1);

Hello!

To call function with 1 argument

// Calling sayHelloTo("John")
call_user_func($functionName2, $friend);

Dear John, hello!

To call function with 1 or more arguments This will be useful if you are dynamically calling your functions and each function have different number of arguments. This is my case that I have been looking for (and solved). call_user_func_array is the key

// You can add your arguments
// 1. statically by hard-code, 
$arguments[0] = "how are you?"; // my $something
$arguments[1] = "Sarah"; // my $to

// 2. OR dynamically using foreach
$arguments = NULL;
foreach($datas as $data) 
{
    $arguments[] = $data;
}

// Calling saySomethingTo("how are you?", "Sarah")
call_user_func_array($functionName3, $arguments);

Dear Sarah, how are you?

Yay bye!

user_8869361 · Answer

If you were in a object context trying to call a function dynamically please try something like this code bellow:

$this->{$variable}();

user_3354494 · Answer

The easiest way to call a function safely using the name stored in a variable is,

//I want to call method deploy that is stored in functionname 
$functionname = 'deploy';

$retVal = {$functionname}('parameters');

I have used like below to create migration tables in Laravel dynamically,

foreach(App\Test::$columns as $name => $column){
        $table->{$column[0]}($name);
}

user_2332250 · Answer

Considering some of the excellent answers given here, sometimes you need to be precise. For example.

if a function has a return value eg (boolean,array,string,int,float e.t.c).
if the function has no return value check
if the function exists

Let's look at its credit to some of the answers given.

Class Cars{
        function carMake(){
        return 'Toyota';
        }
        function carMakeYear(){
        return 2020;
        }
        function estimatedPriceInDollar{
        return 1500.89;
        }
        function colorList(){
        return array("Black","Gold","Silver","Blue");
        }
        function carUsage(){
        return array("Private","Commercial","Government");
        }
    function getCar(){
    echo "Toyota Venza 2020 model private estimated price is 1500 USD";
    }
 }

We want to check if method exists and call it dynamically.

$method = "color List";
        $class = new Cars();
        //If the function have return value;
        $arrayColor = method_exists($class, str_replace(' ', "", $method)) ? call_user_func(array($this, $obj)) : [];
        //If the function have no return value e.g echo,die,print e.t.c
     $method = "get Car";
        if(method_exists($class, str_replace(' ', "", $method))){
        call_user_func(array($class, $method))
        }

Thanks

user_807104 · Answer

One unconventional approach, that came to my mind is, unless you are generating the whole code through some super ultra autonomous AI which writes itself, there are high chances that the functions which you want to "dynamically" call, are already defined in your code base. So why not just check for the string and do the infamous ifelse dance to summon the ...you get my point.

eg.

if($functionName == 'foo'){
  foo();
} else if($functionName == 'bar'){
  bar();
}

Even switch-case can be used if you don't like the bland taste of ifelse ladder.

I understand that there are cases where the "dynamically calling the function" would be an absolute necessity (Like some recursive logic which modifies itself). But most of the everyday trivial use-cases can just be dodged.

It weeds out a lot of uncertainty from your application, while giving you a chance to execute a fallback function if the string doesn't match any of the available functions' definition. IMHO.

user_124188 · Answer

I dont know why u have to use that, doesnt sound so good to me at all, but if there are only a small amount of functions, you could use a if/elseif construct. I dont know if a direct solution is possible.

something like $foo = "bar"; $test = "foo"; echo $$test;

should return bar, you can try around but i dont think this will work for functions