Question

In PHP 5.3.6 I have a class with a method like this:

public function chunkText()
{
  if(!function_exists('unloadChunkText')) {
     function unloadChunkText() {
        . . .
     }
  }
  . . .
}

Where unloadChunkText is a helper method for chunkText. The problem is that whenever I call $obj->chunkText() I am given this error:

Cannot redeclare diagnostic\question\unloadChunkText() (previously
declared in
file.php:34)
in file.php
on line 34

Why isn’t function_exists telling me that this function already exists?

Answer 1

You are checking for the global function unloadChunkText, instead of the namespace-specific function diagnostic\question\unloadChunkText. But I suspect your approach here is flawed.

If you have a helper function for your method chunkText(), define it in one of two ways:

As a closure:

public function chunkText()
{
  $unloadChunkText = function () {
    // . . .
  };
  // . . .
  // Call it like $unloadChunkText()
}

As a private method of the object:

private function unloadChunkText ()
{
  // . . .
}

public function chunkText()
{
  // . . .
  // Call it like $this->unloadChunkText()
}

Defining it as a private method probably makes more sense, so you don’t waste time redefining it every time you call chunkText().