How can the use of functions that return multiple types of values impact the overall readability and maintainability of PHP code?

When functions return multiple types of values, it can make the code harder to read and maintain because the caller needs to handle different types of return values. To improve readability and maintainability, it's better to have functions return a single type of value or use data structures like arrays or objects to encapsulate multiple values. 

// Instead of returning multiple types of values, use an associative array to encapsulate multiple values
function getUserData($userId) {
    // Retrieve user data from database
    $userData = [
        'name' => 'John Doe',
        'email' => 'john.doe@example.com',
        'age' => 30
    ];
    
    return $userData;
}

// Usage
$userData = getUserData(1);
echo $userData['name']; // Output: John Doe
echo $userData['email']; // Output: john.doe@example.com
echo $userData['age']; // Output: 30

Keywords

functions multiple return types readability maintainability PHP code

Related Questions