Put IF condition inside a variable

Question

Is there any way to put conditions within a variable and then use that variable in an if statement? See the example below:

$value1 = 10;
$value2 = 10;

$value_condition = '($value1 == $value2)';

if ($value_condition) {
    echo 'It works!';
} else {
    echo 'It doesnt work.';
}

I understand this may be a bizarre question. I am learning the basics of PHP.

Answer 1

No need to use strings. Use it directly this way:

$value1 = 10;
$value2 = 10;

$value_condition = ($value1 == $value2);

if ($value_condition) {
    echo 'It works!';
} else {
    echo 'It doesnt work.';
}

Or to evaluate, you can use this way using ", as it expands and evaluates variables inside { ... }.

I reckon it might work! Also, using eval() is evil! So make sure you use it in right place, where you are sure that there cannot be any other input to the eval() function!

Answer 2

Depending on what you are trying to do, an anonymous function could help here.

$value1 = 10;
$value2 = 10;

$equals = function($a, $b) {
    return $a == $b;
};

if ($equals($value1, $value2)) {
    echo 'It works!';
} else {
    echo 'It doesnt work.';
}

However, I would only do it like this (and not with a regular function), when you make use of use ().