Multiple returns from a function

Question

Is it possible to have a function with two returns like this:

function test($testvar)
{
  // Do something

  return $var1;
  return $var2;
}

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Answer 1

Since PHP 7.1 we have proper destructuring for lists. Thereby you can do things like this:

$test = [1, 2, 3, 4];
[$a, $b, $c, $d] = $test;
echo($a);
> 1
echo($d);
> 4

In a function this would look like this:

function multiple_return() {
    return ['this', 'is', 'a', 'test'];
}

[$first, $second, $third, $fourth] = multiple_return();
echo($first);
> this
echo($fourth);
> test

Destructuring is a very powerful tool. It's capable of destructuring key=>value pairs as well:

["a" => $a, "b" => $b, "c" => $c] = ["a" => 1, "b" => 2, "c" => 3];

Take a look at the new feature page for PHP 7.1:

New features

Answer 2

In your example, the second return will never happen - the first return is the last thing PHP will run. If you need to return multiple values, return an array:

function test($testvar) {

    return array($var1, $var2);
}

$result = test($testvar);
echo $result[0]; // $var1
echo $result[1]; // $var2

Answer 3

Some might prefer returning multiple values as object:

function test() {
    $object = new stdClass();

    $object->x = 'value 1';
    $object->y = 'value 2';

    return $object;
}

And call it like this:

echo test()->x;

Or:

$test = test();
echo $test->y;

Answer 4

The answer is no. When the parser reaches the first return statement, it will direct control back to the calling function - your second return statement will never be executed.

Answer 5

I know that I am pretty late, but there is a nice and simple solution for this problem.
It's possible to return multiple values at once using destructuring.

function test()
{
    return [ 'model' => 'someValue' , 'data' => 'someothervalue'];
}

Now you can use this

$result = test();
extract($result);

extract creates a variable for each member in the array, named after that member. You can therefore now access $model and $data

Answer 6

For PHP 7.1.0 onwards, you can use the new syntax (instead of the list function):

/**
* @return  array  [foo, bar]
*/
function getFooAndBar(): array {
    return ['foo', 'bar'];
}

[$foo, $bar] = getFooAndBar();

print 'Hello '. $foo . ' and ' . $bar;

It's OK for me if you want to return 2-3 variables, otherwise you should use an object with the desired properties.