How to call faker class via helper function as property rather then array

Question

I am trying to create a helper function for the faker package to be able to easily create fake data.

Currently I have a function which works as an array function. eg. faker('sentence')

But I want it to work by calling properties in the same way it is used in the laravel factory classes, but cant seem to get it to work.

eg. faker()->sentence

Currently I have

use Faker\Factory;

if (!function_exists('faker')) {
    /**
     * Get faker data
     *
     * @return Faker\Factory;;
     */

    function faker($property)
    {
        $faker = Factory::create();
        return $property ? $faker->{$property} : $faker;
    }


}

Answer 1

Actually it Looks like the issue I had was to do with the way the helper was being loaded. The faker function already can be called both ways.

faker('name')

faker()->name

use Faker\Factory;

if (!function_exists('faker')) {
    /**
     * Get faker data
     *
     * @return Faker\Factory;;
     */

    function faker($property)
    {
        $faker = Factory::create();
        return $property ? $faker->{$property} : $faker;
    }


}