# zend_eval_string() question

- Thread: https://externals.io/message/771
- Original archive: https://news-web.php.net/php.internals/771
- Started by Rasmus Lerdorf on 2003-04-07T20:35:27+00:00
- Messages: 1
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## #771 — Rasmus Lerdorf — 2003-04-07T20:35:27+00:00

URL: https://externals.io/message/771#771

Could anybody explain the difference between calling:

zend_eval_string(source, NULL, description)

and

zval retval;
zend_eval_string(source, &retval, description)

It looks to me like if a retval zval is provided there is some sort of 
implicit return value pasted onto the script, but it means that a simple 
string like:  echo "123";
causes a parse error whereas: print "123";
works just fine.  That's pretty confusing.

-Rasmus