How to use if condition inside string in php

Question

Hi, I want to know if there is a way to use something like this:

$t1=1;
$t2=2;
$t3="$t1>$t2";

if($t3)
   echo "Greater";
else
   echo "Smaller";

This will evaluate to true as $t3 is a string, but that's wrong!!!

So is there a way to include the if condition inside string.

I heard that we can use eval for this: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3191911/php-if-condition-inside-string

But how is this possible???

Answer 1

For that, you don't need to evaluate a string. Just write it as a raw condition, and it'll give you a boolean which you can evaluate as is in the if condition:

$t3 = $t1 > $t2;

By the way, the else in your code will evaluate if $t1 and $t2 are equal. You can use an else if to take care of that, but it's just something I thought I'd point out.

Answer 2

Most likely you don't heed that and this question come out from bad design.
Why not to make it just

if ($t1>$t2) echo "greater";

Answer 3

This looks like it should work, given the PHP eval page.

$t1=1;
$t2=2;
$t3="return $t1>$t2;";

if(eval($t3))
   echo "Greater";
else
   echo "Smaller";

Answer 4

Why do you want to do that... it smells!

It looks like you're trying to do something in a inventive but complicated way which can be done in a better, easier, more maintainable way. Would you mind sharing your intentions and reasons?

Also it is not generally advisable to use eval() at all.