[php-src] Issue #20215: PDO::FETCH_COLUMN | PDO::FETCH_GROUP with column parameter behavior
| From: | AllenJB | Date: | Sat, 18 Oct 2025 13:12:07 +0000 |
| Subject: | [php-src] Issue #20215: PDO::FETCH_COLUMN | PDO::FETCH_GROUP with column parameter behavior | ||
| Groups: | php.bugs | ||
| Request: | Send a blank email to php-bugs+get-251083@lists.php.net to get a copy of this message | ||
Issue: https://github.com/php/php-src/issues/20215
Author: AllenJB
### Description
I believe the current code behavior of FETCH_COLUMN | FETCH_GROUP when specifying the column
parameter is non-sensical. I believe it was not originally designed to work this way.
(And does not match the current documentation ... but that seems to be part of the story to how it
got broken - see timeline below)
To see what I'm talking about, please refer to https://github.com/AllenJB/sandbox/blob/main/php-docs/pdo/fetch-modes/column/group.phpt
(3v4l version: https://3v4l.org/2f7aV )
When you use FETCH_COLUMN, you can specify the additional column parameter to fetchAll() to tell PDO
which column to retrieve values from. However, when you combine it with FETCH_GROUP, the column
number is used for the grouping key and the values returned are always the first column.
This does not match my personal expected behavior, especially given that the column parameter can
only be used with the COLUMN fetch mode - no other fetch mode allows you to influence how GROUP
works in this way.
It also does not match the current documentation for PDOStatement::fetchAll()
You can see from the 3v4l link above that COLUMN | GROUP works as I expected in PHP <5.2.6.
I could find no tests in php-src for the combination of COLUMN | GROUP and specifying the column
parameter.
The following is a timeline I put together for this:
2005-08-31: PDOStatement::fetchAll docs updated to include FETCH_GROUP, but the behavior described
does not match the then actual behavior
2008-05-01: PHP 5.2.6 changes the behavior to somewhat match the docs (I believe the bug that
triggered this is https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=44362 ) (if you
read it one way, but this just ends up confusing because if you read it this way to column parameter
has 2 different purposes at the same time)
2024-10-06: PDOStatement::fetchAll docs changed to describe the original < 5.2.6 behavior
### PHP Version
```plain
8.4.13
```
### Operating System
n/a