Bug #79525 [Nab]: Foreach converting/casting array keys to int

Edit report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=79525&edit=1 ID: 79525 Updated by: cmb@php.net Reported by: data dot protection dot gdpr at gmail dot com Summary: Foreach converting/casting array keys to int Status: Not a bug Type: Bug Package: Arrays related Operating System: CentOS 6 PHP Version: 7.3.17 Assigned To: cmb Block user comment: N Private report: N New Comment: If you want this established behavior[1] to change, you or somebody else would have to pursue the RFC process[2]. [1] <https://3v4l.org/p9dD5> [2] <https://wiki.php.net/rfc/howto> Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2020-04-26 21:56:15] bugreports at gmail dot com the problem is that it would be a *massive* and subtle BC break for millions line of code out there, anyways - you assumption that foreach is catsing or changing anything was wrong and yes, i shoutet some dirty words into the room because of the always numeric kyes while working on 100% strict typed and strcit comparing codebase :-) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2020-04-26 21:51:30] data dot protection dot gdpr at gmail dot com That really doesn't seem like a good behavior, and this can definitely lead to unexpected behavior. In PHP, we have ways to do strict comparisons (in_array(.., .., true), ===), and honestly, this key conversion kind of defeats the purpose. I hope that a change to this will be considered in the future. If I'm using quotes, I want a string, not an int... I thought this was common sense. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2020-04-26 21:45:16] cmb@php.net Thank you for taking the time to write to us, but this is not a bug. Please double-check the documentation available at http://www.php.net/manual/ and the instructions on how to report a bug at http://bugs.php.net/how-to-report.php Like bugreports@ said above. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2020-04-26 21:43:24] bugreports at gmail dot com > I have an array with "numeric" key as string (e.g. '1') you don't, you just think you do php > var_dump([1=>'a', 2=>'b']); array(2) { [1]=> string(1) "a" [2]=> string(1) "b" } php > var_dump(['1'=>'a', '2'=>'b']); array(2) { [1]=> string(1) "a" [2]=> string(1) "b" } ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2020-04-26 21:31:59] data dot protection dot gdpr at gmail dot com Description: ------------ I have an array with "numeric" key as string (e.g. '1'), intentionally, as semantically it makes sense for the context. However, I noticed that using a foreach will convert the numeric string keys to "int", which then causes problems with strict comparisons, for example. This does not seem like a good behavior, and I wonder if this should change. Test script: --------------- <?php $array = array( '' => 'test', '1' => 'test1', '5' => 'test5', '2' => 'test2', '10' => 'test10' ); foreach ($array as $key => $val) { var_dump($key); } Expected result: ---------------- string(0) "" string(1) "1" string(1) "5" string(1) "2" string(2) "10" Actual result: -------------- string(0) "" int(1) int(5) int(2) int(10) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Edit this bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=79525&edit=1