Question

I’ve noticed some strange coding styles in PHP/Wordpress code:

1) Returns at start of function:

I’m surprised how often I see PHP/Wordpress code that returns at the start of a function. For example:

function dosomething() {
   if (!current_user_can($priv)) {
       return;
   }
   .... continued code

is used instead of what is usually considered good practice, that is, rarely having multiple returns (they are basically gotos):

function dosomething() {
    if (current_user_can($priv)) {
        ... do something
    }
    ... any finishing code
}

2) Lack of brackets in if’s

In most other languages, the single-line if/else statement without brackets is considered messy/dangerous because additional lines may look like they will run when they actually don’t. I’ve seen this used many times in PHP/Wordpress however.

I’m wondering if these different styles have performance benefits, or other specific reasons for their use?

Answer 1

Neither are performance related. The first just guarantees that nothing in the function can be processed by a user who isn’t authorized to do so (to make sure they don’t run “… any finishing code” in your example), and the second is a style preference for simple if/else statements.