Bug #70486 [Com]: in_array/array_search returns false-positive

Edit report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=70486&edit=1 ID: 70486 Comment by: allenmccabe at gmail dot com Reported by: david at davidsteinsland dot net Summary: in_array/array_search returns false-positive Status: Not a bug Type: Bug Package: Arrays related PHP Version: 5.6.13 Block user comment: N Private report: N New Comment: The root of the issue is not in_array(), but rather type-casting of the string (https://www.php.net/manual/en/language.types.string.php#language.types.string.conversion): "The value is given by the initial portion of the string. If the string starts with valid numeric data, this will be the value used. Otherwise, the value will be 0 (zero)." Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2015-09-14 07:10:37] requinix@php.net > Would it not make more sense to cast it the other way around, as in no. 2? It could, in some situations, yes. The fact is that whichever way PHP worked, somebody would be left at a disadvantage because it doesn't do what they want. Personally, I think of how the majority of input to PHP is in the form of strings (URLs, form input, cookies, some database drivers...) so casting string->number makes more sense more often. But this really isn't the place for a discussion. If you want more information about why PHP works the way it does (and comments to how changing it would be a massive BC break) then I suggest the internals mailing list. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2015-09-14 06:38:27] david at davidsteinsland dot net Description: ------------ The following test script is tested on PHP 5.4.43 (FreeBSD), PHP 5.5.20 (CentOS), PHP 5.6.10 (OSX). All tests say that "notHere" is in the array, and index 2. Before you say that the third parameter, "strict", will fix this. Consider: var_dump((int)'notHere' === 0); var_dump('notHere' === (string)0); I believe that it is the first casting that is being done internally in PHP? Would it not make more sense to cast it the other way around, as in no. 2? They look similar, but are completely different. In the first example I am searching for a string, "notHere". It's being casted to a integer (completely different value and type now), so it matches integer 0. In the second example I am still searching for a string, but now instead of casting the needle, the tested value is casted. The result of this comparison is false. Test script: --------------- <?php $data = ['str', 'str2', 0]; var_dump(in_array('notHere', $data)); var_dump(array_search('notHere', $data)); Expected result: ---------------- bool(false) bool(false) Actual result: -------------- bool(true) int(2) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Edit this bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=70486&edit=1