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php
nikic
Contributor Directory
RFCs
Language and policy proposals from this contributor
RFCs are part of the process by which decisions are made about PHP. For more information about the RFC
process as well as viewing a full list of RFCs please visit the RFC section.
Namespaces in bundled PHP extensions
Classes and functions provided by bundled PHP extensions are currently all located in the global namespace (with one exception). There is a strong sentiment tha...
Allow use of namespaces in line with these guidelines?
Yes
37 Votes (97%)
No
1 Votes (3%)
Migrating to GitHub Issues
This RFC proposes to use GitHub Issues on the PHP repository in place of our own bugs.php.net bug tracker.
Migrate from bugs.php.net to GitHub issues as proposed?
Yes
41 Votes (91%)
No
4 Votes (9%)
Phasing out Serializable
The new custom object serialization mechanism RFC introduced new __serialize() and __unserialize() magic methods in PHP 7.4, with the intent of replacing the br...
Phase out Serializable as proposed?
Yes
36 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Deprecate partially supported callables
This RFC proposes to deprecate callables that are supported by call_user_func($callable), but not by $callable().
Deprecate partially supported callables?
Yes
32 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Deprecate dynamic properties
When writing to a property that has not been declared, PHP will silently create a dynamic property instead. In modern code, this is rarely done intentionally. T...
Deprecate dynamic property creation with #[AllowDynamicProperties] opt-in?
Yes
52 Votes (68%)
No
25 Votes (32%)
Deprecate passing null to non-nullable arguments of internal functions
Internal functions (defined by PHP or PHP extensions) currently silently accept null values for non-nullable arguments in coercive typing mode. This is contrary...
Deprecate passing null to non-nullable arguments of internal functions?
Yes
46 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Array unpacking with string keys
PHP 7.4 added support for unpacking inside arrays through the spread_operator_for_array RFC. At the time, unpacking of string keys was prohibited, both due to u...
Allow string keys in array unpacking?
Yes
50 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Restrict $GLOBALS usage
The $GLOBALS variable currently provides a direct reference to PHP's internal symbol table. Supporting this requires significant technical complexity, affects p...
Restrict $GLOBALS usage as specified?
Yes
48 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Static variables in inherited methods
When a method containing static variables is inherited, the inherited method currently uses an independent set of static variables. This RFC proposes to only ha...
Change static variable inheritance as proposed?
Yes
38 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
New in initializers
This RFC proposes to allow use of new expressions inside parameter default values, attribute arguments, static variable initializers and global constant initial...
Support new in initializers as proposed?
Yes
43 Votes (96%)
No
2 Votes (4%)
Deprecations for PHP 8.1
The RFC proposes to deprecate the listed functionality in PHP 8.1 and remove it in PHP 9.
Deprecate date_sunrise() and date_sunset()?
Yes
51 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Deprecate key(), current(), next(), prev(), reset() on objects?
Yes
48 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Deprecate mb_check_encoding() without argument?
Yes
44 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Deprecate get_class(), get_parent_class() and get_called_class() without argument?
Yes
21 Votes (50%)
No
21 Votes (50%)
Deprecate FILE_BINARY and FILE_TEXT constants?
Yes
42 Votes (98%)
No
1 Votes (2%)
Deprecate t fopen mode?
Yes
13 Votes (43%)
No
17 Votes (57%)
Deprecate passing bool for $value argument of IntlCalendar::roll()?
Yes
38 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Deprecate accessing static members on traits?
Yes
40 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Deprecate strptime()?
Yes
35 Votes (92%)
No
3 Votes (8%)
Deprecate strftime() and gmstrftime()?
Yes
29 Votes (76%)
No
9 Votes (24%)
Deprecate mhash*() family of functions?
Yes
38 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Deprecate int parameters to ctype_*() functions?
Yes
34 Votes (94%)
No
2 Votes (6%)
Deprecate return by reference with void type?
Yes
39 Votes (98%)
No
1 Votes (3%)
Deprecate NIL constant defined by the IMAP extension?
Yes
35 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Deprecate calling overloaded pgsql functions without the connection argument?
Yes
36 Votes (97%)
No
1 Votes (3%)
Deprecate $num_points parameter of image(open|filled)polygon?
Yes
20 Votes (69%)
No
9 Votes (31%)
Deprecate mysqli::init()?
Yes
34 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Deprecate filter.default ini setting?
Yes
28 Votes (88%)
No
4 Votes (13%)
Deprecate auto_detect_line_endings ini setting?
Yes
38 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Deprecate ssl_method option to SoapClient constructor?
Yes
25 Votes (96%)
No
1 Votes (4%)
Deprecate FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING?
Yes
36 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Deprecate oci8.old_oci_close_semantics INI setting?
Yes
27 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Deprecate odbc_result_all()?
Yes
34 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
First-class callable syntax
This RFC proposes the introduction of a first-class callable syntax, which supersedes existing encodings using strings and arrays. The advantage is that the new...
Introduce first-class callable syntax as proposed?
Yes
44 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Readonly properties 2.0
This RFC introduces a readonly property modifier, which prevents modification of the property after initialization.
Add readonly properties as proposed?
Yes
38 Votes (78%)
No
11 Votes (22%)
Reclassifying engine warnings
While newly introduced error conditions in the engine typically use Error exceptions, we have many old error conditions that use inappropriate severity levels f...
Change undefined variable severity to?
Error exception
36 Votes (56%)
Warning
18 Votes (28%)
Keep Notice
10 Votes (16%)
Change undefined array index severity to?
Warning
42 Votes (67%)
Keep Notice
21 Votes (33%)
Change division by zero severity to?
DivisionByZeroError exception
52 Votes (87%)
Keep Warning
8 Votes (13%)
Accept remaining classifications shown in the table above?
Yes
54 Votes (95%)
No
3 Votes (5%)
Named Arguments
Named arguments allow passing arguments to a function based on the parameter name, rather than the parameter position. This makes the meaning of the argument se...
Add named argument support?
Yes
57 Votes (76%)
No
18 Votes (24%)
Treat namespaced names as single token
PHP currently treats namespaced names like Foo\Bar as a sequence of identifiers and namespace separator tokens. This RFC proposes to treat namespaced names as a...
Treat namespaced names as a single token?
Yes
38 Votes (90%)
No
4 Votes (10%)
Saner string to number comparisons
Comparisons between strings and numbers using == and other non-strict comparison operators currently work by casting the string to a number, and subsequently pe...
Change string to number comparison semantics as proposed?
Yes
44 Votes (98%)
No
1 Votes (2%)
Make sorting stable
Sorting functions in PHP are currently unstable, which means that the order of equal elements is not guaranteed. This RFC proposes to make all sorts in PHP stab...
Make sorting in PHP stable?
Yes
45 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Constructor Property Promotion
Currently, the definition of simple value objects requires a lot of boilerplate, because all properties need to be repeated at least four times. Consider the fo...
Add support for declaring properties in the constructor signature?
Yes
46 Votes (82%)
No
10 Votes (18%)
Stricter type checks for arithmetic/bitwise operators
This RFC proposes to throw a TypeError when an arithmetic or bitwise operator is applied to an array, resource or (non-overloaded) object. The behavior of scala...
Add stricter type checks for arithmetic/bitwise operators?
yes
57 Votes (100%)
no
0 Votes (0%)
Allow trailing comma in parameter list
This RFC proposes to allow an optional trailing comma in parameter lists. This is already supported for argument lists.
Allow trailing comma in parameter lists?
Yes
58 Votes (98%)
No
1 Votes (2%)
Object-based token_get_all() alternative
The token_get_all() function currently returns tokens either as a single-character string, or an array with a token ID, token text and line number. This RFC pro...
Add object-based token_get_all() alternative?
Yes
47 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Validation for abstract trait methods
Traits can contain abstract methods, which are used to specify requirements the trait has on the using class. However, the signatures of these methods are curre...
Validate abstract trait methods?
Yes
52 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Allow ::class on objects
The Foo\Bar::class syntax has been introduced in PHP 5.5 to allow fetching a class name as a string, in a way that respects context-dependent name resolution ru...
Allow ::class on objects?
Yes
60 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Static return type
The static special class name in PHP refers to the class a method was actually called on, even if the method is inherited. This is known as late static binding ...
Add static return type?
Yes
54 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Variable Syntax Tweaks
The Uniform Variable Syntax RFC resolved a number of inconsistencies in PHP's variable syntax. This RFC intends to address a small handful of cases that were ov...
Implement syntax changes outlined above in PHP 8?
Yes
47 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Union Types 2.0
A union type accepts values of multiple different types, rather than a single one. PHP already supports two special union types:
Add union types as proposed?
Yes
61 Votes (92%)
No
5 Votes (8%)
Always generate fatal error for incompatible method signatures
Inheritance errors due to incompatible method signatures (LSP violations) currently either throw a
fatal error or a warning depending on the cause of the error ...
Always generate fatal error for incompatible method signatures in PHP 8?
Yes
39 Votes (93%)
No
3 Votes (7%)
Consistent type errors for internal functions
For user-defined functions, passing a parameter of illegal type results in a TypeError. For internal functions, the behavior depends on multiple factors, but th...
Make zpp failures always throw TypeError?
Yes
50 Votes (96%)
No
2 Votes (4%)
Weak maps
Weak maps allow creating a map from objects to arbitrary values (similar to SplObjectStorage) without preventing the objects that are used as keys from being ga...
Add WeakMap class in PHP 8.0?
Yes
25 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Deprecations for PHP 7.4
The RFC proposes to deprecate the listed functionality in PHP 7.4 and remove it in PHP 8.
Deprecate (real) cast and is_real() function?
Yes
35 Votes (83%)
No
7 Votes (17%)
Deprecate get_magic_quotes_gpc() and get_magic_quotes_runtime()?
Yes
46 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Deprecate array_key_exists() with objects?
Yes
44 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Deprecate FILTER_SANITIZE_MAGIC_QUOTES?
Yes
45 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Deprecate Reflection export() methods?
Yes
37 Votes (90%)
No
4 Votes (10%)
Deprecate mb_strrpos() with encoding as 3rd argument?
Yes
44 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Deprecate implode() with inverted parameter order?
Yes
38 Votes (88%)
No
5 Votes (12%)
Deprecate unbinding of $this from non-static closures?
Yes
43 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Deprecate hebrevc() function?
Yes
34 Votes (83%)
No
7 Votes (17%)
Deprecate convert_cyr_string() function?
Yes
25 Votes (78%)
No
7 Votes (22%)
Deprecate money_format() function?
Yes
34 Votes (81%)
No
8 Votes (19%)
Deprecate ezmlm_hash() function?
Yes
37 Votes (90%)
No
4 Votes (10%)
Deprecate restore_include_path() function?
Yes
31 Votes (78%)
No
9 Votes (23%)
Deprecate allow_url_include ini option?
Yes
43 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Allow throwing exceptions from __toString()
Throwing exceptions from __toString() is currently forbidden and will result in a fatal error.
This makes it dangerous to call arbitrary code inside __toString(...
Allow exceptions from __toString() in PHP 7.4?
Yes
42 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Deprecate left-associative ternary operator
Unlike most (all?) other languages, the ternary operator in PHP is left-associative rather than
right-associative. The left-associative behavior is generally no...
Deprecate and remove left-associative ternary without explicit parentheses?
Yes
35 Votes (78%)
No
10 Votes (22%)
Typed Properties 2.0
With the introduction of scalar types and return types, PHP 7 greatly increased the power of PHP's type system. However, it is currently not possible to declare...
Add support for typed properties as described in this RFC?
Yes
70 Votes (99%)
No
1 Votes (1%)
Reflection for references
Specialized libraries that perform operations like dumping, cloning or comparison over arbitrary value graphs require the ability to reason about PHP references...
Add ReflectionReference?
Yes
30 Votes (97%)
No
1 Votes (3%)
New custom object serialization mechanism
PHP currently provides two mechanisms for custom serialization of objects: The __sleep()/__wakeup() magic methods, as well as the Serializable interface. Unfort...
Include proposed serialization mechanism in PHP 7.4?
Yes
20 Votes (74%)
No
7 Votes (26%)
Deprecate and Remove Case-Insensitive Constants
PHP currently supports both case-sensitive and case-insensitive constants. Case-insensitive constants see very little practical use, are subject to various inco...
Deprecate (and later remove) case-insensitive constants?
Yes
39 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Deprecations for PHP 7.3
This is a draft RFC for multiple deprecations targeting PHP 7.3. The RFC proposes to deprecate the listed functionality in PHP 7.3 and remove it in PHP 8.
Deprecate (and subsequently remove) undocumented mbstring function aliases?
Yes
37 Votes (97%)
No
1 Votes (3%)
Deprecate (and subsequently remove) integer needles in string search functions?
Yes
32 Votes (97%)
No
1 Votes (3%)
Deprecate (and subsequently remove) fgetss() (and variations) and the string.strip_tags filter?
Yes
20 Votes (83%)
No
4 Votes (17%)
Deprecate (and subsequently remove) support for defining a free-standing assert() function?
Yes
20 Votes (74%)
No
7 Votes (26%)
Deprecate (and subsequently remove) FILTER_FLAG_(SCHEME|HOST)_REQUIRED flags?
Yes
31 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Deprecate (and subsequently remove) pdo_odbc.db2_instance_name php.ini directive?
Yes
29 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Deprecations for PHP 7.2
This is a draft RFC for multiple deprecations targeting PHP 7.2. The RFC proposes to deprecate the listed functionality in PHP 7.2 and remove it no later than i...
Deprecate and subsequently remove __autoload
Yes
33 Votes (97%)
No
1 Votes (3%)
Deprecate and subsequently remove $php_errormsg
Yes
29 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Deprecate and subsequently remove create_function()
Yes
29 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Deprecate and subsequently remove mbstring.func_overload
Yes
28 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Deprecate and subsequently remove (unset) cast
Yes
28 Votes (97%)
No
1 Votes (3%)
Deprecate and subsequently remove parse_str() without second argument
Yes
29 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Deprecate and subsequently remove gmp_random()
Yes
27 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Deprecate and subsequently remove each()
Yes
18 Votes (75%)
No
6 Votes (25%)
Deprecate and subsequently remove assert() with string argument
Yes
25 Votes (96%)
No
1 Votes (4%)
Deprecate and subsequently remove $errcontext argument of error handler
Yes
22 Votes (88%)
No
3 Votes (12%)
Forbid dynamic calls to scope introspection functions
Dynamic calls to functions like extract(), which either inspect or modify the parent scope or stack frame, have unclear behavior (with disagreements between PHP...
Forbid dynamic calls to scope introspection functions?
Yes
39 Votes (98%)
No
1 Votes (3%)
Reclassify E_STRICT notices
This RFC proposes to reclassify the few existing E_STRICT notices and remove this error category.
Reclassify E_STRICT notices as described in this RFC?
Yes
28 Votes (88%)
No
4 Votes (13%)
Remove deprecated functionality in PHP 7
This RFC proposes to remove functionality which has been deprecated during the 5.x cycle.
Unbundle the ext/ereg extension?
Yes
37 Votes (93%)
No
3 Votes (8%)
Unbundle the ext/mysql extension?
Yes
28 Votes (70%)
No
12 Votes (30%)
Remove assignment of new by reference?
Yes
31 Votes (84%)
No
6 Votes (16%)
Remove support for calls from incompatible context?
Yes
34 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Remove dl() in fpm-fcgi SAPI?
Yes
32 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Remove (set_)magic_quotes_runtime() functions?
Yes
36 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Remove listed deprecated functions?
Yes
31 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Remove xsl.security_prefs ini directive?
Yes
28 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Remove extension specific encoding ini directives?
Yes
26 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Remove $is_dst parameter of the mktime() and gmmktime() functions?
Yes
28 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Remove support for #-style comments in ini files?
Yes
27 Votes (87%)
No
4 Votes (13%)
Disallow string category names in setlocale()?
Yes
27 Votes (96%)
No
1 Votes (4%)
Disallow enabling unsafe curl uploads?
Yes
19 Votes (76%)
No
6 Votes (24%)
Remove preg_replace() eval modifier?
Yes
33 Votes (97%)
No
1 Votes (3%)
Remove PDO::PGSQL_ATTR_DISABLE_NATIVE_PREPARED_STATEMENT driver option?
Yes
20 Votes (80%)
No
5 Votes (20%)
Remove CN_match and SNI_server_name stream context options?
Yes
20 Votes (80%)
No
5 Votes (20%)
Abstract syntax tree
This RFC proposes the introduction of an Abstract Syntax Tree (AST) as an intermediary structure in our compilation process. This replaces the existing practice...
Use AST implementation in PHP 7?
Yes
47 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Uniform Variable Syntax
This RFC proposes the introduction of an internally consistent and complete variable syntax. To achieve this goal the
semantics of some rarely used variable-var...
Implement Uniform Variable Syntax in PHP 6?
Yes
30 Votes (97%)
No
1 Votes (3%)
Remove alternative PHP tags in PHP 7?
Yes
26 Votes (76%)
No
8 Votes (24%)
Remove hex support in numeric strings
This RFC proposes to remove support for hexadecimal numers in is_numeric_string. Support for hex in this function is inconsistent with behavior in other places ...
Remove hex support in numeric strings?
Yes
29 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Exceptions in the engine (for PHP 7)
This RFC proposes to allow the use of exceptions in the engine and to allow the replacement of existing fatal or recoverable fatal errors with exceptions.
Allow exceptions in the engine and conversion of existing fatals?
Yes
60 Votes (97%)
No
2 Votes (3%)
Introduce and use BaseException?
Yes
39 Votes (67%)
No
19 Votes (33%)
Should the proposed variadic-function syntax be added in PHP 5.6 (master)?
Yes
36 Votes (97%)
No
1 Votes (3%)
Argument Unpacking
This RFC complements the variadics RFC. It introduces a syntax for unpacking arrays and Traversables into argument lists (also known as splat operator, scatter ...
Implement argument unpacking in PHP 5.6?
Yes
32 Votes (94%)
No
2 Votes (6%)
Internal operator overloading and GMP improvements
PHP offers facilities for large number and decimal arithmetic (GMP and BCMath), but currently using those is a PITA. This RFC proposes to improve the situation ...
Should these changes be applied for PHP 5.6?
Internal operator overloading
14 Votes (45%)
GMP changes
15 Votes (48%)
None
2 Votes (6%)
Generators
Generators provide an easy, boilerplate-free way of implementing iterators.
Should generators be merged into master?
Yes
24 Votes (96%)
No
1 Votes (4%)
Which of the language constructs should accept arbitrary arguments?
Both empty() and isset()
3 Votes (14%)
Only empty()
14 Votes (67%)
None
4 Votes (19%)
Should empty() and isset() accept arbitrary arguments?
yes
12 Votes (86%)
no
2 Votes (14%)
Remove type-restrictions on foreach keys?
Yes
21 Votes (100%)
No
0 Votes (0%)
Deprecate short open tags, again
In addition to
Deprecate and remove short open tags as proposed?
Yes
30 Votes (56%)
No
24 Votes (44%)
Exceptions in the engine
This RFC proposes to allow the use of exceptions in the engine and to allow the replacement of existing fatal or recoverable fatal errors with exceptions.
Implement in PHP 5.6?
Yes
24 Votes (52%)
Yes, without E_RECOVERABLE_ERROR changes
1 Votes (2%)
No
21 Votes (46%)
Alternative typehinting syntax for accessors
This RFC proposes a different typehinting syntax for the property accessors proposal. The proposed syntax places the typehint before the property name rather th...
Should the proposed typehinting syntax be used instead of the current one?
Yes
3 Votes (20%)
No
12 Votes (80%)
Unwrap reference after foreach
After a foreach by reference loop, the value variable currently remains a reference to the last array element, which may result in unexpected behavior if the va...
Deprecate ticks
Ticks allow running a function for every N low-level tickable statements. Historically, they have been used for handling pcntl signals. However, they have outli...
Deprecate and remove continue targeting switch
In PHP, if continue is applied to a switch statement, it behaves the same as break. In other languages, it would continue the surrounding loop instead. To avoid...
Namespace-scoped declares
PHP 7 introduced the strict_types declare directive, which controls how scalar type declarations behave in a certain file. A common complaint is that this direc...
Parser Extension API
This RFC proposes an introduction of userland parser extensions API for providing an access to the low-level Abstract Syntax Tree (AST) parser.
Allow explicit call-site pass-by-reference annotation
By-reference parameters are currently only declared when defining a function, while the call-site does not distinguish between by-value and by-reference passing...
Moving to an AST-based parsing/compilation process (obsolete)
Note: This RFC has been superseded by another Abstract Syntax Tree RFC.
Property Accessors
Property accessors allow implementing custom behavior for reading or writing a property. PHP already provides this general functionality through __get() and __s...