Variadics Operator

Learn about the variadics operator and how it helps the developer to provide multiple arguments without specifying the names of variables.

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The variadics operator consists of three leading dots (…) preceding a normal PHP variable (or object property). This operator has actually been with the language since PHP 5.6. It’s also referred to as the following:

  • Splat operator

  • Scatter operator

  • Spread operator

Before we dive into the improvements PHP 8 has made using this operator, let’s have a quick look at how the operator is normally used.

Unknown number of arguments

One of the most common uses for the variadics operator is in a situation where we define a function with an unknown number of arguments.

In the following code example, the multiVardump() function is able to accept any number of variables. It then concatenates the var_export() output and returns a string:

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