Req #76500 [Com]: fputcsv() is ignoring the value FALSE

Edit report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=76500&edit=1 ID: 76500 Comment by: spam2 at rhsoft dot net Reported by: thomas at landauer dot at Summary: fputcsv() is ignoring the value FALSE Status: Re-Opened Type: Feature/Change Request Package: Filesystem function related Operating System: Linux Mint PHP Version: 7.1.18 Block user comment: N Private report: N New Comment: > CSV (and fputcsv()) does have a distinction > between strings and numbers: the quotes! true > is exported as 1, not as > "1". Why?? => The > only possible answer I see: Because it's casted > to int (not to string) you don't understand how PHP works php > echo (string)true; 1 php > echo (string)false; php > Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2018-06-19 16:30:14] thomas at landauer dot at > CSV knows nothing about NULLs and booleans – it's all about strings Just reasoned about this some more. And I came to the conclusion that it isn't true ;-) CSV (and fputcsv()) does have a distinction between strings and numbers: the quotes! true is exported as 1, not as "1". Why?? => The only possible answer I see: Because it's casted to int (not to string). Well, and if you cast false to an int, what do you get? => 0! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2018-06-19 15:52:31] thomas at landauer dot at > And you won't be able to distinguish either from an empty string. Well, an empty string is not possible in a boolean field ;-) > In my opinion, adding yet another optional argument to fputcsv() does more harm than good. Why? Which harm? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2018-06-19 15:44:14] cmb@php.net > So if you have a nullable boolean field in your database, this > function becomes completely useless, since you can't tell > null > from false. And you won't be able to distinguish either from an empty string. CSV knows nothing about NULLs and booleans – it's all about strings. You have to cater to that yourself in any way that suits your use-case. > But I'd suggest to add an optional argument to configure how > false is treated - […] In my opinion, adding yet another optional argument to fputcsv() does more harm than good. However, feel free to start the RFC process[1]. :) [1] <https://wiki.php.net/rfc/howto> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2018-06-19 15:19:45] thomas at landauer dot at Yeah, sure (string)false === ''. But (string)null === '' too! So if you have a nullable boolean field in your database, this function becomes completely useless, since you can't tell null from false. Fixing the documentation is certainly better than nothing (haven't seen it live, though). But I'd suggest to add an optional argument to configure how false is treated - something like the $options constants in json_encode(). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2018-06-19 15:03:01] cmb@php.net This bug has been fixed in the documentation's XML sources. Since the online and downloadable versions of the documentation need some time to get updated, we would like to ask you to be a bit patient. Thank you for the report, and for helping us make our documentation better. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The remainder of the comments for this report are too long. To view the rest of the comments, please view the bug report online at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=76500 -- Edit this bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=76500&edit=1