What is a PHP Function File?
The php function file is the place in your site where you can define and call any user-defined functions. This allows you to add features to your website that can’t be achieved through plugins or the built-in WordPress functions.
Functions are essentially re-usable blocks of code. If you find yourself writing similar code on your site over and over with only slight variations it makes sense to break this into a function that can then be called from any page. This helps to keep your code readable and easier to troubleshoot.
A php function can return a value of any type, so it’s a great way to make your code more modular. This is because by splitting your code into different functions you can include only the necessary files into your main script. This reduces the overall size of your program and can be a good way to debug your code.
Variable scope is another advantage of using functions. By declaring a variable inside a function it’s not accessible outside that function, this helps to keep your variables isolated from each other.
Functions also allow you to pass values into your function at run time. This is done through what are called arguments. Arguments can be anything from a string to an integer. These are replaced at runtime by the values passed into the function. This makes your code much more dynamic and re-usable. It can also help you to avoid bugs as you’ll only have one place in your script for any errors to occur.