Question

In some contexts, we can use an array($this, 'variable') syntax, to refer to object properties. Why doesn’t compact(array($this, 'variable')) work? Is there a way to work around this?

class someclass {

    $result = 'something';

    public function output() {
        compact($this->result); // $this is a OOP keyword and I don't know how to use it inside a compact() brackets
    }
}

I have found only one solution at the moment:

$result = $this->result;
compact('result');

But this is ugly.

Answer 1

Short answer: don’t use compact(). In this situation, it’s pointless (in most situations it’s pointless, but that’s another story). Instead, what’s wrong with just returning an array?

return array('variable' => $this->variable);