Bug #72920 [NEW]: Accessing a private constant using constant() creates an exception AND warning

From: suralc dot github at gmail dot com Operating system: PHP version: 7.1.0beta3 Package: *General Issues Bug Type: Bug Bug description:Accessing a private constant using constant() creates an exception AND warning Description: ------------ Accessing a private class constant using constant() triggers an exception (as expected) and a warning. The function should only use one way to report the inaccessible constant; prefferably the Error/Exception. Removing the warning from the constant() function would result in the same behaviour as accessing the constant directly. A small test script is attached, a slightly larger version is linked here: https://3v4l.org/JY1AO Test script: --------------- <?php class Foo { private const C1 = "a"; } try { var_dump(constant('Foo::C1')); } catch(Error $e) { echo 'Caught'; } Expected result: ---------------- Caught Actual result: -------------- Warning: constant(): Couldn't find constant Foo::C1 in ??? on line 8 Caught -- Edit bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=72920&edit=1 -- Try a snapshot (PHP 5.4): https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72920&r=trysnapshot54 Try a snapshot (PHP 5.5): https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72920&r=trysnapshot55 Try a snapshot (trunk): https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72920&r=trysnapshottrunk Fixed in SVN: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72920&r=fixed Fixed in release: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72920&r=alreadyfixed Need backtrace: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72920&r=needtrace Need Reproduce Script: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72920&r=needscript Try newer version: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72920&r=oldversion Not developer issue: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72920&r=support Expected behavior: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72920&r=notwrong Not enough info: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72920&r=notenoughinfo Submitted twice: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72920&r=submittedtwice register_globals: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72920&r=globals PHP 4 support discontinued: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72920&r=php4 Daylight Savings: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72920&r=dst IIS Stability: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72920&r=isapi Install GNU Sed: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72920&r=gnused Floating point limitations: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72920&r=float No Zend Extensions: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72920&r=nozend MySQL Configuration Error: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72920&r=mysqlcfg