PHP Enumerations?

[Seamus M]

I can't find any info on enumerations in the PHP manual, so I assume there
is no built in way to create them. Can anyone tell me the best way to build
a simple enumeration, such as:

Enum AllItems as Integer

'First Item' = 1;
'Second Item' = 2;
:
End Enum

[Oli Filth]

Seamus M said the following on 06/11/2005 22:40:

I can't find any info on enumerations in the PHP manual, so I assume there
is no built in way to create them. Can anyone tell me the best way to build
a simple enumeration, such as:

Enum AllItems as Integer

'First Item' = 1;
'Second Item' = 2;
:
End Enum

PHP does not have enumerations per se.

I guess the closest thing you could do (assuming PHP 5) is an abstract
class with constants, e.g.:

abstract class AllItems
{
const Dog = 1;
const Cat = 2;
const Ocelot = 3;
}

echo AllItems::Dog; // displays "1"
--
Oli

[Ewoud Dronkert]

Oli Filth wrote:

Seamus M said the following on 06/11/2005 22:40:

I can't find any info on enumerations in the PHP manual

I guess the closest thing you could do (assuming PHP 5) is an abstract
class with constants, e.g.:

abstract class AllItems
{
const Dog = 1;
const Cat = 2;
const Ocelot = 3;
}

echo AllItems::Dog; // displays "1"

Or an associative array perhaps?

$allitems = array('cat' => 1, 'dog' => 2, 'fish' => 3);
echo $allitems['cat'];

Or constants, but they are not restricted to one type or container:

define('ALL_CAT', 1);
define('ALL_DOG', 2);
define('ALL_FISH', 3);
echo ALL_CAT;

--
E. Dronkert

[Dana Cartwright]

"Ewoud Dronkert" <fi*******@lastname.net.invalid> wrote in message
news:iu********************************@4ax.com...

Oli Filth wrote:

Seamus M said the following on 06/11/2005 22:40:

I can't find any info on enumerations in the PHP manual

Or constants, but they are not restricted to one type or container:

define('ALL_CAT', 1);
define('ALL_DOG', 2);
define('ALL_FISH', 3);
echo ALL_CAT;

You can get closer to the 'auto-increment' characteristic of true ENUM's by:

$n = 0;
define( 'ALL_CAT', $n++ );
define( 'ALL_DOG', $n++ );
define( 'ALL_FISH', $n++ );

I suspect most C programmers, seeing the above, would say "Aha, it's an
enumeration", which is really what one is after, I think.

[Ryan Lange]

================================================== ======================
Dana Cartwright wrote:

You can get closer to the 'auto-increment' characteristic of true ENUM's by:

$n = 0;
define( 'ALL_CAT', $n++ );
define( 'ALL_DOG', $n++ );
define( 'ALL_FISH', $n++ );

I suspect most C programmers, seeing the above, would say "Aha, it's an
enumeration", which is really what one is after, I think.

Keeping with cat=1, dog=2, and fish=3, shouldn't that be either:

$n = 1;

....or...

$n = 0;
define('ALL_CAT', ++$n);

....etc?

- Ryan

[Dana Cartwright]

"Ryan Lange" <cl*********@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:Ie********************@comcast.com...

================================================== ======================
Dana Cartwright wrote:

You can get closer to the 'auto-increment' characteristic of true ENUM's
by:

$n = 0;
define( 'ALL_CAT', $n++ );
define( 'ALL_DOG', $n++ );
define( 'ALL_FISH', $n++ );

Keeping with cat=1, dog=2, and fish=3, shouldn't that be either:

$n = 1;

...or...

$n = 0;
define('ALL_CAT', ++$n);

C enumerations start at zero, which is why I wrote it that way. The OP
talked about enumerations, and I was staying with that spirit.