How should I return multiple variables in a function (for best practices)?

Question

Just curious to know what the best practice would be for something like this:

A function, that returns multiple variables - how should one return these variables?

like this (globalizing):

function myfun(){

global $var1,$var2,$var3;

$var1="foo";
$var2="foo";
$var3="foo";

}//end of function

or like this (returning an array):

function myfun(){

$var1="foo";
$var2="foo";
$var3="foo";

$ret_var=array("var1"=>$var1,"var2"=>$var2,"var3"=>$var3);

return $ret_var;

}//end of function

I done a performance test, and it looks like using arrays is faster (after a few refreshes):

array took: 5.9999999999505E-6
global took: 2.0999999999938E-5

But I'm curious to know which method is the best practiced for a simple situation like this?

Answer 1

You should absolutely return an array. It is much clearer. You can even use the list construct to simulate multiple return values a-la python:

function foon() {
   return array('one', 'two', 'three');
}
list($one, $two, $three) = foon();

Edit: in some cases an associative array is also quite appropriate. I can't imagine the performance difference would merit this loss of clarity.