在定义之前调用嵌套的用户定义函数

Question

According to PHP manual calling a user-defined function prior to its definition doesn't produce an error except:

When a function is defined in a conditional manner... Its definition must be processed prior to being called.

Example:

bar();
$makefoo = true;
if ($makefoo) {
    function bar() {
        echo "I don't exist.
";
    }
}

Throws a Fatal error:

Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Call to undefined function bar() in...

With above explanation I suppose below code to produce the same error:

foo();
bar();
function foo() {
    $makefoo = true;
    if ($makefoo) {
        function bar() {
            echo "I don't exist until foo() is called.
";
        }
    }
}

But it doesn't. What am I missing in manuals that describes this behavior?

Answer 1

foo();
bar();
function foo() {
    $makefoo = true;
    if ($makefoo) {
        function bar() {
            echo "I don't exist until foo() is called.
";
        }
    }
}

PHP code is executed in two passes: first the parsing and compilation step, then the runtime. Plain functions like foo can be defined at parse time; they're unconditional and not dependent on runtime information.

So function foo is defined at parse time, then at runtime foo() is called, which creates function bar, so then you can call bar() right afterwards.