FFI
PHP Manual

Main interface to C code and data

Introduction

Objects of this class are created by the factory methods FFI::cdef, FFI::load or FFI::scope. Defined C variables are made available as properties of the FFI instance, and defined C functions are made available as methods of the FFI instance. Declared C types can be used to create new C data structures using FFI::new and FFI::type.

FFI definition parsing and shared library loading may take significant time. It is not useful to do it on each HTTP request in a Web environment. However, it is possible to preload FFI definitions and libraries at PHP startup, and to instantiate FFI objects when necessary. Header files may be extended with special FFI_SCOPE defines (e.g. #define FFI_SCOPE "foo"; the default scope is "C") and then loaded by FFI::load during preloading. This leads to the creation of a persistent binding, that will be available to all the following requests through FFI::scope. Refer to the complete PHP/FFI/preloading example for details.

It is possible to preload more than one C header file into the same scope.

Class synopsis

final FFI
/* Constants */
public const int FFI::__BIGGEST_ALIGNMENT__;
/* Methods */
public static FFI\CData addr(FFI\CData &$ptr)
public static int alignof(FFI\CDataFFI\CType &$ptr)
public static FFI\CType arrayType(FFI\CType $type, array $dimensions)
public FFI\CDatanull cast(FFI\CTypestring $type, FFI\CDataintfloatboolnull &$ptr)
public static FFI cdef(string $code = "", stringnull $lib = null)
public static void free(FFI\CData &$ptr)
public static bool isNull(FFI\CData &$ptr)
public static FFInull load(string $filename)
public static int memcmp(stringFFI\CData &$ptr1, stringFFI\CData &$ptr2, int $size)
public static void memcpy(FFI\CData &$to, FFI\CDatastring &$from, int $size)
public static void memset(FFI\CData &$ptr, int $value, int $size)
public FFI\CDatanull new(FFI\CTypestring $type, bool $owned = true, bool $persistent = false)
public static FFI scope(string $name)
public static int sizeof(FFI\CDataFFI\CType &$ptr)
public static string string(FFI\CData &$ptr, intnull $size = null)
public FFI\CTypenull type(string $type)
public static FFI\CType typeof(FFI\CData &$ptr)

Predefined Constants

FFI::__BIGGEST_ALIGNMENT__

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