Assigning a if statement's condition to a variable

Question

Is it possible to assign a conditional statement into a variable and use it in an if statement? For example, I have the following code where the condition in the if statement will change from time to time:

<?php $x = 2; //This "x > 5" value will come from a database $command = "x > 5";//Some times this value might be x > 5 || x == 1 if($command)//This will always be true no matter what since the content of the $command is not empty echo "x is bigger than 5"; else echo "x is smaller than 5";//I want this line to get executed since x is smaller than 5 in this case ?>

Expected output is x is smaller than 5, but what I get is x is bigger than 5

I wrote this answer to a similar question: stackoverflow.com/a/50280727/2734189. maybe you could use something like that. — Don't Panic
– Don't Panic, Commented Jul 1, 2021 at 21:14

Barmar · Accepted Answer · 2021-07-01 21:04:22Z

You need to use eval(). $command will have to contain $ before the variables so it's valid PHP syntax.

$x = 2; $command = '$x > 5'; $result = eval("return ($command);"); if ($result) { echo "x is bigger than 5"; } else { echo "x is smaller than 5"; }

Since eval() can execute arbitrary code, you should be extremely careful about what you allow to be put into $command.

Thank you so much for explaining this with an sample code. Apricate your help.
@DP. although it may be worth reading stackoverflow.com/questions/951373/when-is-eval-evil-in-php

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