What is the difference between call_user_func() and call_user_func_array() in PHP?
call_user_func()
and call_user_func_array()
are two PHP functions that are used to dynamically call a function by its name or reference.
The main difference between the two functions is in the way they pass arguments to the function being called:
call_user_func()
expects the function’s arguments to be passed as individual parameters after the function name or reference. For example:
$result = call_user_func('my_function', $arg1, $arg2, $arg3);
call_user_func_array()
expects the function’s arguments to be passed as an array after the function name or reference. For example:
$args = array($arg1, $arg2, $arg3);
$result = call_user_func_array('my_function', $args);
In other words, call_user_func_array()
allows you to pass a variable number of arguments to the function being called, whereas call_user_func()
requires you to explicitly pass each argument as a separate parameter.
It’s worth noting that call_user_func_array()
is generally slower than call_user_func()
because it has to create an array of arguments and then pass that to the function being called. However, if you need to call a function with a variable number of arguments, call_user_func_array()
is the only option.