diff --git a/targets/php/php.inc.php b/targets/php/php.inc.php
index b74bde6..96fee31 100644
--- a/targets/php/php.inc.php
+++ b/targets/php/php.inc.php
@@ -340,10 +340,10 @@ class mtgPHPCodegen extends mtgCodegen
           if(!is_array($args))
             throw new Exception("Bad filter args: $args_json");
         }
-        if ($add_assoc_check)
-          return "\$assoc ? $filter_func($val, '$field_name', \$this, " . str_replace("\n", "",  var_export($args, true)) . ") : $val";
+        if($add_assoc_check)
+          $str = "(\$assoc ? $filter_func($str, '$field_name', \$this, " . str_replace("\n", "",  var_export($args, true)) . ") : $str)";
         else
-          return "$filter_func($val, '$field_name', \$this, " . str_replace("\n", "",  var_export($args, true)) . ")";
+          $str = "$filter_func($str, '$field_name', \$this, " . str_replace("\n", "",  var_export($args, true)) . ")";
       }
       else
         throw new Exception("No such filter '$filter_func'");