Bug #79620 [NEW]: Typed nullable attribute throws Fatal error

From: jiri dot fajman at designeo dot cz Operating system: Ubuntu 20.04 PHP version: 7.4.6 Package: *General Issues Bug Type: Bug Bug description:Typed nullable attribute throws Fatal error Description: ------------ PHP 7.4.6 Following code throws "Typed property A::$x must not be accessed before initialization". Expected behavior: Method getX() returns null. I cannot imagine any single usecase for this behavior and I consider it a serious bug leading back to PHP 7.0 hacks for nullable types in method signature. Note: Omitting getter method is not acceptable since accessing non existing attribute does not throw error. Test script: --------------- <?php class A { private ?string $x; /** * @return string|null */ public function getX(): ?string { return $this->x; } /** * @param string|null $x */ public function setX(?string $x): void { $this->x = $x; } } $a = new A(); var_dump($a->getX()); Expected result: ---------------- Expected result is that var_dump prints null, not crash with fatal error Actual result: -------------- Fatal error: Typed property A::$x must not be accessed before initialization -- Edit bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=79620&edit=1 -- Fix committed: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=79620&r=fixed Fixed in release: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=79620&r=alreadyfixed Need backtrace: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=79620&r=needtrace Need Reproduce Script: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=79620&r=needscript Try newer version: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=79620&r=oldversion Not developer issue: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=79620&r=support Expected behavior: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=79620&r=notwrong Not enough info: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=79620&r=notenoughinfo Submitted twice: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=79620&r=submittedtwice register_globals: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=79620&r=globals PHP version support discontinued: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=79620&r=phptooold Daylight Savings: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=79620&r=dst IIS Stability: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=79620&r=isapi Install GNU Sed: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=79620&r=gnused Floating point limitations: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=79620&r=float No Zend Extensions: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=79620&r=nozend MySQL Configuration Error: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=79620&r=mysqlcfg