Shooting Concise Arrows of Functionality PHP introduced the arrow function syntax in version 7.4. It’s just a shorthand way to write anonymous functions, sort of. The main difference between anonymous functions and arrow functions in PHP is the use of the use keyword. In order to have access to the scope outside of the anonymous function, you must use the use keyword. Arrow functions automatically have access to scope outside of the function. Anatomy of an arrow function. <?php $global_var = 5; $arrow_func = fn( $param ) => $param + $global_var; echo $arrow_func( 5 ); ?> The arrow function starts with the shortened function