Functions

[Xerpher]

Lets say I make a function that takes the inputed value and manipulates it then orints it out... That all works great for me, but I was wondering if I could make my function be used without having to put the '(' and ')' just like how the print function doesn't need those, it works with just the double quotes.

[Jay]

Any user defined function HAS to be in the format of:
functionName ([arg1.[arg2[arg3...]]]) { function parameters }

You can't create a function without the paranthesis otherwise it wouldn't know where to get the variables from!

[Xerpher]

I didn't mean the actual function creation... I meant when you call the function. For example:

print ("Welcome!") // This outputs "Welcome!"
print "Welcome!" // This outputs "Welcome!"

Whether you use the parentheses or not, the print function still works... Can I do that to my own functions?

[elitecodex]

No
At least not to my knowledge

[Jay]

No, don't try to copy the built-in PHP functions!

If you made your own function like so
function myFunct($arg) {
$arg .= $arg;
return $arg
}

you could write the following code:
print myFunct("Some text");

which will output
Some textSome text

But when you call a function, even one with no additional parameters, you have to use the paranthesis

[Xerpher]

Or I could make it simpler by doing this...

If you made your own function like so
function myFunct($arg) {
$arg .= $arg;
print $arg
}

you could write the following code:
myFunct("Some text");

which will output
Some textSome text

[Jay]

True, but I find the 'return' idea to be much more useful as a function because you've still got an element of control over the value it returns, and you can pass it through another function, say.

If you're function is printing it out, then you're stuffed if you want to manipulate it more!