php-defer

A php implementation of defer statement from Go

PHP defer function schedules a function call (the deferred function) to be run immediately before the function executing the defer returns. It's an unusual but effective way to deal with situations such as resources that must be released regardless of which path a function takes to return. The canonical examples are unlocking a mutex or closing a file.

// Contents returns the file's contents as a string.
function contents($filename) {
    $f = fopen($filename, "r");
    if ($f === false) {
        throw new Exception("Error opening the file");
    }
    $defer = defer(fclose(...),$f);  // fclose will run when we're finished.

    $result = ""; 

    while (($buffer = fread($f, 100)) !== false) {
        $result .= $buffer; 
    }

    if (feof($f) === false) {
        // $f will be closed if we return here.
        throw new Exception("Error reading the file");
    }

    // $f will be closed if we return here.
    return $result;
}

Deferring a call to a function such as Close has two advantages. First, it guarantees that you will never forget to close the file, a mistake that's easy to make if you later edit the function to add a new return path. Second, it means that the close sits near the open, which is much clearer than placing it at the end of the function.

---

Installation

composer require tito10047/defer 

Quick example

function foo($a){
    echo "in defer {$a}".PHP_EOL;
}
function a() {
    echo "before defer".PHP_EOL;
    $defer = defer(foo(...),1);
    $defer(foo(...),2);
    $defer(foo(...),3);
    echo "after defer".PHP_EOL;
};

echo "start".PHP_EOL;
a();
echo "end".PHP_EOL;

will print

start
before defer
after defer
in defer 3
in defer 2
in defer 1
end

3 Rules

---

The behavior of defer statements is straightforward and predictable. There are three simple rules:

1. A deferred function's arguments are evaluated when the defer statement is evaluated.

In this example, the expression "i" is evaluated when the printf call is deferred. The deferred call will print 0 after the function returns.

function a(){
    $i=0;
    $_ = defer(printf(...),$i);
    $i++;
}

will print 000

2. Deferred function calls are executed in Last In First Out order after the surrounding function returns.

This function prints 3210:

function b(){
    $defer = defer();
    for($i=0;$i<4;$i++){
        $defer(printf(...),$i);
    }
}

3. Deferred functions can`t modify return values when is type, but can modify content of reference to array or object.

In this example, a deferred function increments increment $o->i after the surrounding function returns but not modify returned $i. This example print 2-3:

function c() {
    $i=1;
    $o=new \stdClass();
    $o->i=2;
    $defer = defer(function () use (&$i, $o) {
        $o->i++;
        $i++;
    });

    $i++;
    return [$i,$o];
}
list($i,$o) = c();
echo "{$i}-{$o->i}".PHP_EOL;

---

PHP Limitations

• In php defer implementation you can't modify returned value. Can modify only content of returned reference
• You need instantiate defer object before use it with $defer = new Defer() or $defer = defer()

---

Usage

namespace test;

require_once __DIR__.'/../vendor/autoload.php';

function myFunc(){}
class Foo{
    public function myMethod(){}
}
function a(){
    // defer custom function without parameter
    // function name must be with his namespace
    $defer = defer('test\myFunc');
    // defer function with one parameter
    $defer(printf(...),"test");
    // defer function with more parameters
    $defer('printf',"%s-%s",10,12);
    // defer with anonymous function
    $defer(function (){});
    $func = function (){};
    $defer($func);
    //defer method
    $foo = new Foo();
    $defer([$foo,'myMethod']);
}
a();