#25494 [Csd->Opn]: array_merge allowing "false" as argument (silent when non-array is passed)

ID: 25494 Updated by: et@php.net Reported By: enygma at phpdeveloper dot org -Status: Closed +Status: Open Bug Type: Arrays related -Operating System: Red Hat Linux +Operating System: Any PHP Version: 4.3.2 New Comment: This `fix' is inconsistent with array_splice, which allows you to add non-array arguments. (This is also documented.) Also, this `fix' breaks BC. Is this really needed? I'd rather have those functions convert non-array arguments into arrays and then perform their operations like array_splice() does. This has to be documented of course. Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2003-09-11 13:57:55] jay@php.net This bug has been fixed in CVS. In case this was a PHP problem, snapshots of the sources are packaged every three hours; this change will be in the next snapshot. You can grab the snapshot at http://snaps.php.net/. In case this was a documentation problem, the fix will show up soon at http://www.php.net/manual/. In case this was a PHP.net website problem, the change will show up on the PHP.net site and on the mirror sites in short time. Thank you for the report, and for helping us make PHP better. array_merge() throws E_NOTICEs now in 4.3.x and will throw a warning and fail in 5 for non-array arguments. J ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2003-09-11 12:11:09] andrey@php.net Jay, it's an undocumented feature. If it is not documented and obscure it's developer's risk to use it. So, I think this is a bug and a check for the input parameter should be performed. A warning throwed in the same way as array_intersect() does will be the consistent way. Opening again :) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2003-09-11 11:50:39] enygma at phpdeveloper dot org it still seems silly to me that a string passed into an array function was taken without so much as a warning. even more strange that it was suddenly treated as an array and merged into the other valid array. maybe a warning would be enough to deter this in the future? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2003-09-11 11:42:26] jay@php.net If you use var_dump() in place of print_r(), you'd see that it's not a mysterious value, it's 'false'. The boolean value is being converted to an array index in array_merge(). (Any value would produce similar results -- $array1=4; would produce an array value of $last_array[0]==4.) array_intersect() does a type check before it does anything, which is why the warning comes up. While it seems inconsistent, I can't see this being changed because it would affect BC (albeit BC on a somewhat obscure, undocumented feature). Somebody correct me here if I'm wrong. So I'm bogusing it for now. J ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2003-09-11 11:42:19] andrey@php.net 1. Please use var_dump() instead of print_r() 2. The value in the merged array is (bool) false ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The remainder of the comments for this report are too long. To view the rest of the comments, please view the bug report online at http://bugs.php.net/25494 -- Edit this bug report at http://bugs.php.net/?id=25494&edit=1