Edit report at http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=47160&edit=1
ID: 47160 Comment by: dchurch at sciencelogic dot com Reported by: a at b dot c dot de Summary: $foo() syntax is too limited Status: Open Type: Feature/Change Request Package: Feature/Change Request Operating System: Windows (irrelevant) PHP Version: 5.3.0alpha3 New Comment: Closures in PHP 5.3 DO work like this, as they should. But I agree that it should be possible to call array($object, 'methodname') or array('classname', 'staticmethod') in this fashion. Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2009-01-20 08:57:09] a at b dot c dot de Description: ------------ It's already possible to have arrays that represent callable methods (either static or instance), and 5.3's closures offer a third type of "callable" function. But the $foo() syntax that facilitates calling that callable function still requires $foo to contain a string. Since in general one cannot know in advance just what type of callable the value of $foo actually is, and when one does know it's often NOT a string, it's necessary to forego the syntax and rely on call_user_func($foo). What would be nice is if $foo() also worked in the cases where $foo was a callable array or Closure object. call_user_func() itself would largely be relegated to the status of "function equivalent should you need it" and complement to call_user_func_array(). Reproduce code: --------------- <?php // For 5.2.x as well. class Thing { static function DoesStuff() { echo 'Hello, World'; } } $f = array('Thing', 'DoesStuff'); $f(); ?> Expected result: ---------------- Hello, World Actual result: -------------- Fatal error: Function name must be a string in C:\test.php on line 11 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Edit this bug report at http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=47160&edit=1