PHP | What are three dots before a function arguments?

Question

I was working with Laravel 5.3 and in one of the functions, I found this piece of code:

public function handle($request, Closure $next, ...$guards)
{
    $this->authenticate($guards);

    return $next($request);
}

The code comes from \Illuminate\Auth\Middleware\Authenticate::class.

What are those 3 dots before $guards variable?

wiki.php.net/rfc/argument_unpacking - if you're ever unsure, there's a comprehensive list of symbols in stackoverflow.com/questions/3737139/… — Qirel
– Qirel, Commented Nov 5, 2016 at 15:10

Script47 · Accepted Answer · 2018-03-07 15:23:44Z

33

It indicates that there may be a variable number of arguments.

When the function is called with more than 3 arguments, all the arguments after $next will be added to the $guards array.

You can read about it here.

edited Mar 7, 2018 at 15:23

Script47

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answered Nov 5, 2016 at 15:13

Daniel Enache

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3 Comments

Script47 Over a year ago

Will $guards still be an array if a ONLY 3 parameters are sent?

Script47 Over a year ago

Just noticed the last time the answerer was available (Dec 11 '16 at 19:52), if anyone else stumbling across can answer my above comment, please do so.

Script47 Over a year ago

Confirmed, $guards will still be an array, please click here to see an example.

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