Doc #67038 [Opn]: in_array returns null

Edit report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=67038&edit=1 ID: 67038 Updated by: mfonda@php.net Reported by: kilbyc at bellsouth dot net Summary: in_array returns null Status: Open Type: Documentation Problem Package: Documentation problem Operating System: Windows 7 PHP Version: 5.5.11 Block user comment: N Private report: N New Comment: Built-in PHP functions will generally return null if an invalid argument is passed. This is documented at http://us1.php.net/manual/en/functions.internal.php: "Note: If the parameters given to a function are not what it expects, such as passing an array where a string is expected, the return value of the function is undefined. In this case it will likely return NULL but this is just a convention, and cannot be relied upon." Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2014-04-07 16:20:22] kilbyc at bellsouth dot net It gets worse What about the people who read the manual and see the bool sig, and therefore implement something like: $is_authorized = in_array('user',$roles)!==false;//and $roles failed to init The developer doesn't know there is a potential warning there, or to look for a null. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2014-04-07 16:02:21] kilbyc at bellsouth dot net Description: ------------ http://us1.php.net/in_array is at best misleading, at worst, blatantly wrong. The documentation clearly states that in_array returns bool, true, false. Null is not an acceptable value in that list. Also, the manual does not advise that this function may throw warnings. This has been ignored for a while. https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=39788 Test script: --------------- C:\php5.5>php --version PHP 5.5.11 (cli) (built: Apr 2 2014 16:03:05) Copyright (c) 1997-2014 The PHP Group Zend Engine v2.5.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2014 Zend Technologies C:\php5.5>php -r "var_export(in_array('thing', null));" Warning: in_array() expects parameter 2 to be array, null given in Command line NULL Expected result: ---------------- Update the manual to say that in_array issues Warning. And: Either returns NULL if the array is null. OR Fix the function to return false is the array is null. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Edit this bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=67038&edit=1