Arrow Functions

Arrow functions were introduced in PHP 7.4 as a more concise syntax for anonymous functions.

Both anonymous functions and arrow functions are implemented using the Closure class.

Arrow functions have the basic form fn (argument_list) => expr.

Arrow functions support the same features as anonymous functions, except that using variables from the parent scope is always automatic.

When a variable used in the expression is defined in the parent scope it will be implicitly captured by-value. In the following example, the functions $fn1 and $fn2 behave the same way.

Example #1 Arrow functions capture variables by value automatically

<?php$y = 1; $fn1 = fn($x) => $x + $y;// equivalent to using $y by value:$fn2 = function ($x) use ($y) {    return $x + $y;};var_export($fn1(3));?>

The above example will output:

4

This also works if the arrow functions are nested:

Example #2 Arrow functions capture variables by value automatically, even when nested

<?php$z = 1;$fn = fn($x) => fn($y) => $x * $y + $z;// Outputs 51var_export($fn(5)(10));?>

Similarly to anonymous functions, the arrow function syntax allows arbitrary function signatures, including parameter and return types, default values, variadics, as well as by-reference passing and returning. All of the following are valid examples of arrow functions:

Example #3 Examples of arrow functions

<?phpfn(array $x) => $x;static fn(): int => $x;fn($x = 42) => $x;fn(&$x) => $x;fn&($x) => $x;fn($x, ...$rest) => $rest;?>

Arrow functions use by-value variable binding. This is roughly equivalent to performing a use($x) for every variable $x used inside the arrow function. A by-value binding means that it is not possible to modify any values from the outer scope. Anonymous functions can be used instead for by-ref bindings.

Example #4 Values from the outer scope cannot be modified by arrow functions

<?php$x = 1;$fn = fn() => $x++; // Has no effect$fn();var_export($x);  // Outputs 1?>

Changelog

Version Description
7.4.0 Arrow functions became available.

Notes

Note: It is possible to use func_num_args(), func_get_arg(), and func_get_args() from within an arrow function.