Can I use constants within functions in PHP?

Question

Is it possible to use a PHP constant within a PHP function?

// in a different file DEFINE ('HOST', 'hostname'); DEFINE ('USER', 'username'); DEFINE ('PASSWORD', 'password'); DEFINE ('NAME', 'dbname');  // connecting to database function database() {     // using 'global' to define what variables to allow     global $connection, HOST, USER, PASSWORD, NAME;     $connection = new mysqli(HOST, USER, PASSWORD, NAME)         or die ('Sorry, Cannot Connect');     return $connection; } 

Answer 1

You don't need to declare them in global in the function, PHP recognises them as globals.

function database() {   // using 'global' to define what variables to allow   global $dbc;   $connection = new mysqli(HOST, USER, PASSWORD, NAME)       or die ('Sorry, Cannot Connect');   return $connection; } 

From php.net:

Like superglobals, the scope of a constant is global. You can access constants anywhere in your script without regard to scope. For more information on scope, read the manual section on variable scope.

Answer 2

Have you at least tried it? :)

From the manual:

Like superglobals, the scope of a constant is global. You can access constants anywhere in your script without regard to scope.