I was been doing a php testing which uses eval() function, but it seems that eval() can't call user defined functions properly.

Please see my example:

```
function equals($a,$b){  
        if ($t == $r){  
        return true;  
        }  
    else{  
                throw new Exception("expected:<".$r."> but was:<".$t.">");  
    }  
}
eval("$test = 1;");  
try{  
    echo eval("equals($test,1);");  
}  
catch (Exception $e) {  
    echo $e->getMessage();  
}  

```

but what I have received is always like "expected:<1> but was:<>", but if I have do an 

```
echo $test;

```

I can get 1.

I have tried changing $ to \$ by following the PHP eval() Manual, but it seems to break the eval function. (<http://php.net/manual/en/function.eval.php>)

So I am a bit of stack now, can someone help me with the problem. Thank you very much.