Tickers in PHP

The concept of tickers in PHP is not built-in like in some other languages. However, we can simulate similar behavior using a loop and the usleep() function. Here’s an example that demonstrates periodic execution in PHP:

<?php

// Simulate a ticker that runs every 500 milliseconds
function createTicker($interval) {
    return function () use ($interval) {
        while (true) {
            yield;
            usleep($interval * 1000);
        }
    };
}

// Main execution
$ticker = createTicker(500);
$start = microtime(true);

// Run the ticker for about 1600 milliseconds
while (microtime(true) - $start < 1.6) {
    $ticker->next();
    echo "Tick at " . date('Y-m-d H:i:s') . "\n";
}

echo "Ticker stopped\n";

This program simulates a ticker that ticks periodically until we stop it.

We create a createTicker function that returns a generator. This generator yields indefinitely, with a pause between each yield using usleep(). This simulates the behavior of a ticker.

In the main execution:

1. We create a ticker that ticks every 500 milliseconds.
2. We use a while loop to run the ticker for about 1600 milliseconds.
3. On each tick, we print the current time.
4. After the loop ends (simulating stopping the ticker), we print a message.

When we run this program, the ticker should tick 3 times before we stop it:

$ php tickers.php
Tick at 2023-06-01 10:15:30
Tick at 2023-06-01 10:15:31
Tick at 2023-06-01 10:15:31
Ticker stopped

Note that PHP doesn’t have built-in concurrency features like goroutines. For more complex scenarios involving concurrent operations, you might need to use extensions like pthreads or libraries like ReactPHP.