Req #78064 [NEW]: var_dump() should display the invisible characters code

From: jerome at deuchnord dot fr Operating system: Arch Linux PHP version: 7.3.5 Package: *General Issues Bug Type: Feature/Change Request Bug description:var_dump() should display the invisible characters code Description: ------------ In some circumstances, we may get invisible characters in a variable. Currently, these characters are not visible with var_dump() - the only way you can figure out their presence is by copying it and paste it on an editor that displays it (for instance Vim). This behavior leads to strong difficulties for the developers to debug their script. This becomes really a problem for instance when your variable is an array and there is an invisible character in one key. Test script: --------------- $bom = chr(0xef) . chr(0xbb) . chr(0xbf); $str = $bom.'Hello World!'; var_dump($str); // string(15) "Hello World!" Expected result: ---------------- $bom = chr(0xef) . chr(0xbb) . chr(0xbf); $str = $bom.'Hello World!'; var_dump($str); // string(15) "\0xef\0xbb\0xfeHello World!" -- Edit bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=78064&edit=1 -- Try a snapshot (PHP 5.4): https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=78064&r=trysnapshot54 Try a snapshot (PHP 5.5): https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=78064&r=trysnapshot55 Try a snapshot (trunk): https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=78064&r=trysnapshottrunk Fixed in SVN: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=78064&r=fixed Fixed in release: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=78064&r=alreadyfixed Need backtrace: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=78064&r=needtrace Need Reproduce Script: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=78064&r=needscript Try newer version: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=78064&r=oldversion Not developer issue: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=78064&r=support Expected behavior: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=78064&r=notwrong Not enough info: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=78064&r=notenoughinfo Submitted twice: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=78064&r=submittedtwice register_globals: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=78064&r=globals PHP 4 support discontinued: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=78064&r=php4 Daylight Savings: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=78064&r=dst IIS Stability: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=78064&r=isapi Install GNU Sed: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=78064&r=gnused Floating point limitations: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=78064&r=float No Zend Extensions: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=78064&r=nozend MySQL Configuration Error: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=78064&r=mysqlcfg