Php function: assignment while returning. Is it a good practice?

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I have the following function, that generates, stores in a session variable and returns a token (anti-CSRF):

PHP

function generateToken() {
  $_SESSION["token"] = bin2hex(random_bytes(32));
  return $_SESSION["token"];
}

I could make it easier:

PHP

function generateToken() {
  return $_SESSION["token"] = bin2hex(random_bytes(32));
}

It works. But is assignment while returning a good practice? Are there shortcomings/downsides with it?

What I have tried:

PHP

function generateToken() {
  return $_SESSION["token"] = bin2hex(random_bytes(32));
}

Posted 27-Apr-23 22:12pm

LB2371

Updated 27-Apr-23 22:54pm

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Member 15627495 28-Apr-23 4:49am

Hello !

the 'try' looks better than the other.

one thing is about what is $_SESSION for the server : it's a global Var.
you can access this var at every time in all your php script.

it makes the 'return' useless,

sure it's kind of overload, php permit 'recursion' ( allocating a value in a var , then return it. )

it works, it pass , well done !

using '$_session["token"] when needed is equal.

LB2371 28-Apr-23 6:00am

The reason of "return" is in the way I use the function:
form
...
input type="hidden" name="token" value="?=generateToken()?"
...
/form

Member 15627495 28-Apr-23 6:27am

yes, this way every form is 'single' and the '$_SESSION' integrates security strings.

every loading pages will refresh $_SESSION['token'] and will have a 'numberized/crypted' key.

good job !

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OriginalGriff · Answer 1 · 2023-04-27T22:54:00

Solution 1

There is no real difference as far as execution is concerned - but it's a little harder to read as a single line of code, so I'd go with the separate assignment.

It's also a lot easier to debug with separate instructions, when you need to!

Posted 27-Apr-23 22:54pm

OriginalGriff

Comments

Member 15627495 28-Apr-23 8:12am

it's 'getter' and 'setter' by the same function too, as a 'Class' can do