The old_function statement allows you to declare a function using a syntax identical to PHP/FI2 (except you must replace 'function' with 'old_function'.
This is a deprecated feature, and should only be used by the PHP/FI2->PHP 3 convertor.
Functions declared as old_function cannot be called from PHP's internal code. Among other things, this means you can't use them in functions such as usort(), array_walk(), and register_shutdown_function(). You can get around this limitation by writing a wrapper function (in normal PHP 3 form) to call the old_function.