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: but csv is all about TEXT and not numbers, so there is no point that something is casted to int - if you want http://php.net/manual/en/language.types.type-juggling.php if you want to avoid this you have to cast your values explicit, that's it Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2018-06-19 17:01:22] thomas at landauer dot at You don't understand what I mean ;-) php > echo (int)true; 1 php > echo (int)false; 0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2018-06-19 16:55:19] spam2 at rhsoft dot net > 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 > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [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> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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