Req #42129 [Opn->Wfx]: restrict explode's function return type

Edit report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=42129&edit=1 ID: 42129 Updated by: cmb@php.net Reported by: david dot nqd at gmail dot com Summary: restrict explode's function return type -Status: Open +Status: Wont fix Type: Feature/Change Request -Package: *General Issues +Package: Strings related Operating System: Irrelevant PHP Version: 5.2.3 -Assigned To: +Assigned To: cmb Block user comment: N Private report: N New Comment: As of PHP 8.0.0, a ValueError is thrown if $separator is an empty string, so in a sense, this feature has been implemented. Kidding aside, for the reason mentioned by @nikic, an empty string as separator will not be implemented. Just use str_split() instead. Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2014-12-31 16:24:44] nikic@php.net Note that if explode('', 'abc') were implemented the correct result would actually be array('', 'a', 'b', 'c', ''), which would be unexpected to many people. To avoid confusion PHP does not allow this usage. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2012-07-19 14:52:43] alastair at propcom dot co dot uk This affects me too. I don't want this to be my string-split paradigm: if ($delimiter === '') return str_split($str); else return explode($delimiter, $str); That's just stupid. Splitting on the empty string is a completely logical and well-defined operation. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2007-07-27 22:01:06] david dot nqd at gmail dot com Description: ------------ This is not a bug report like #38337. Shouldn't the return type of explode be restricted to an array given valid inputs (strings)? This would mean that if an empty string was passed as the delimiter, the return would be an array containing individual characters. I doubt this would break any existing code unless people used explode to check that the delimiter === '' Reproduce code: --------------- <?php $x = explode('', 'abc'); ?> Expected result: ---------------- $x = array('a','b','c') Actual result: -------------- $x = false ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Edit this bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=42129&edit=1