recreating returned variables under the same name

I have a function that returns an array of variables. The variables it returns vary depending on what it needs to return. For example one time it could return array($pet,$color); and another time it could return array($height,$width,$table);

On the receiving end I want to make these variables 开发者_JAVA百科available. If I knew I was expecting $pet and $color, I could do something like

list($pet, $color) = myfunction();

but I don't know what the function is going to return each time. So is there a way I could still recreate these variables under the same names when I receive the function output?

Edit: I was hoping to not have to do it by defining an associative array that has the name of the variable saved as a string in addition to the variable itself.

Does the function return an associative array, eg

return array(
    'height' => $height,
    'width'  => $width,
    'table'  => $table
);

If so, you can then use the extract function to bring each entry into the current scope's symbol table

I think you need to use associative arrays instead, so entries will have fixed names associated with them:

array('height'=>$height, 'width'=>$width, 'table'=>$table)