function ();

[AJ]

Could anyone give me some help on functions?
I have the following code which I picked up from someone, which is meant to make pronouncable passwords.
My problem is, I don't know how to execute the function.
Can anyone help?

<?
$base_a1 = "aeiouy"; 
$base_a2 = "bcdfghjklmnpqrstvwxz"; 
$base_0 = "0123456789"; 

function generate($name_length=8, $name_base=1)  {

// name_base = 1 - alfa, 2 - num. 

global $base_a1,$base_a2,$base_0; 

$retval = ''; 

mt_srand((double)microtime()*1000000); 

switch ($name_base) 
{ 
case 1: 
{ 
$sw=false; 
for ($p=0;$p<$name_length;$p++) 
{ 
if ($sw) 
$retval .= substr($base_a1,mt_rand(0,strlen($base_a1)-1),1); 
else 
$retval .= substr($base_a2,mt_rand(0,strlen($base_a2)-1),1); 
$sw=!$sw; 
} 
break; 
} 
case 2: 
{ 
for ($p=0;$p<$name_length;$p++) 
$retval .= substr($base_0,mt_rand(0,strlen($base_0)-1),1); 
break; 
} 
} 

return $retval; 
} 

?>

Thanks,
AJ

[kentaurus]

maybe..

$password = generate();

[freakysid]

There's nothing like internal documentation!

[AJ]

cheers guys.
although you did sound very sarcastic..
-aj

[TWTCommish]

A helpful tip is to tell yourself that functions can either...

A - Print out some text/code to be processed, such as calling some sort of site-wide error() function to print out a generic error message.

...or...

B - Return a value. In this case, you'll notice this line is near the end of the function:

return $retval;

Now, that basically means that whent he function is executed, it "returns" that value - so, how do you capture the value returned? You assign it to a variable, as recommended by kentaurus:

$password = generate();

Any value returned by the function is placed in the $password variable.

The thought of functions returning values confused me for the longest time, but it makes sense once you get used to it.

Good luck!

[freakysid]

Sorry you didn't like my attempt at humour. My mistake, I thought you wanted an explaination of the function's algorithm.

Just to add to TWCommish's comments. As well as looking to see what you get back from a function

return $retval;

You should also look at the function's "signature" to see what the function expects from you when you call it in your code. The signature for this function is

function generate($name_length=8, $name_base=1)

This means that the function will receive two parameters. Fortunately, the writer used "meaningful" variable names so we can guess what the parameters signify. It seems that you can pass the function the "name_length" which would be the length of password you want generated and returned. Also, from this comment in the code,

// name_base = 1 - alfa, 2 - num.

the second argument appears to allow you to specify whether you want the password generated to be alpha or numeric.

So if you wanted the function to generate a 6 letter alpha password you would use

$password = generate( 6, 1 );

If you wanted a ten digit numeric password

$password = generate( 10, 2 );

However, you will notice that the writer of the function has actually specified "default" values for the two parameters

$name_length=8, $name_base=1

This means that if you call the function in this manner

$password = generate( );

without passing any parameters in the function call, the function will use the default values $name_length=8, $name_base=1 and you would expect to receive an alpha password 8 letters in length.

Note you could also call the function like this

$password = generate(7);

This would override the default value of $name_length and assign $name_length = 7, but keep the default value of $name_base=1 because you didn't provide a second arguement in the function call.

Hope that helps rather than confuses.