Bug #73081 [NEW]: strange behavior when assigning string key on empty string

From: jhdxr Operating system: PHP version: 7.1.0RC1 Package: *General Issues Bug Type: Bug Bug description:strange behavior when assigning string key on empty string Description: ------------ previously, empty string converted to array automaticly when using array related operators on empty string. And I know this behaviour was changed because of the fix for https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=53432 . there are some similar or related bugs like https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=72430 , which I think reasonable, since empty string will not be converted to array, and [] is an operator for array rather than string. however, when I try to assign a value via string index on an empty string, I just get a warning and strange result (see the test script below <https://3v4l.org/Kuj6l>). Test script: --------------- <?php $arr = ''; $arr['a'] = 'test'; var_dump($arr); Expected result: ---------------- //since $arr is a string, array operator should not be allowed Fatal error: or //bug #53432 only covers the cases of using number as the index, and in other cases, maybe empty string should be converted to an array. array(1) { ["a"]=> string(4) "test" } Actual result: -------------- Warning: Illegal string offset 'a' in /in/Kuj6l on line 4 string(1) "t" -- Edit bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=73081&edit=1 -- Try a snapshot (PHP 5.4): https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=73081&r=trysnapshot54 Try a snapshot (PHP 5.5): https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=73081&r=trysnapshot55 Try a snapshot (trunk): https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=73081&r=trysnapshottrunk Fixed in SVN: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=73081&r=fixed Fixed in release: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=73081&r=alreadyfixed Need backtrace: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=73081&r=needtrace Need Reproduce Script: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=73081&r=needscript Try newer version: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=73081&r=oldversion Not developer issue: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=73081&r=support Expected behavior: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=73081&r=notwrong Not enough info: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=73081&r=notenoughinfo Submitted twice: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=73081&r=submittedtwice register_globals: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=73081&r=globals PHP 4 support discontinued: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=73081&r=php4 Daylight Savings: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=73081&r=dst IIS Stability: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=73081&r=isapi Install GNU Sed: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=73081&r=gnused Floating point limitations: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=73081&r=float No Zend Extensions: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=73081&r=nozend MySQL Configuration Error: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=73081&r=mysqlcfg