PHP - create function issue

Question

I'm trying to understand this code and I can't :(

$time = date('Y-m-d', strtotime('-30 days'));
$what = create_function('$a', 'return $a.'.'"'." AND date > '$time'".'"'.';');

Why does the $time variable get passed successfully in this created function, but when I try:

$limit = 10;
$what = create_function('$a', 'return '.'"'." LIMIT '$limit'".'"'.';');

$limit doesn't ?

ps: if I try $what = create_function('$a', 'return '.'"'." LIMIT 10".'"'.';'); it works...

Answer 1

The code can be much simplified:

$what = create_function('$a', "return \"LIMIT $limit\";");

or

$what = create_function('$a', 'return "LIMIT ' .  $limit .'";');

The code should work. Note that the number after LIMIT must not be enclosed in quotes in the SQL syntax.

But as you are creating a function, you could also pass $limit as parameter to the function:

$what = create_function('$limit', 'return "LIMIT $limit";');
$str = $what(10);

or don't use create_function at all and just do string concatenation directly:

$str = 'LIMIT ' . $limit;