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Subject: Specification for function filled() :: was ifsetor/coalesce
From: dante@vocalspace.com ("D. Dante Lorenso")

Dear Internals,

I'd like a white bikeshed, but until you can decide on a color, how 
about we just build the bikeshed already.  Please consider the following 
specification:

========== 8< ==================== 8< ==================== 8< ==========

filled

(PHP 5.2.0)

filled - Find first non-empty value in a variable list where empty() 
evaluates as FALSE.

Description
------------------------------

mixed filled ( mixed varname [, mixed ...] )

filled() takes a variable number of parameters.  For each of these, 
*filled()* looks for a variable where !empty( varname ) evaluates as 
TRUE.  It returns the first non-empty value or NULL if all values are 
empty().

Note: filled() only checks variables as anything else will result in a 
parse error.  In other words, the following will not work: 
filled(trim($name)).
    filled() is the opposite of empty(), and no warning is generated 
when any one of the variables is not set.

Return Values
------------------------------

Returns first non-empty() value.

If all values are empty(), returns NULL.

Example
------------------------------
<?php
echo filled($x["somekey"], $_GET["getkey"], $default, "example");
echo filled("yes"); // prints yes
filled(false); // returns NULL
echo filled($x["apple"], $y, "banana"); // prints banana
$y = "cat";
echo filled($x["apple"], $y, "banana"); // prints cat
$x["apple"] = "pear";
echo filled($x["apple"], $y, "banana"); // prints pear
unset($x["apple"]);
echo filled($x["apple"], $y, "banana"); // prints cat
?>

See also empty()

========== 8< ==================== 8< ==================== 8< ==========

Dante