Doc #64090 [NEW]: Normalizer::normalize silently eats data when there is an error

From: T dot J dot Hunt at open dot ac dot uk Operating system: PHP version: 5.3.21 Package: Unicode Engine related Bug Type: Documentation Problem Bug description:Normalizer::normalize silently eats data when there is an error Description: ------------ --- From manual page: http://www.php.net/normalizer.normalize#refsect1- normalizer.normalize-returnvalues --- "Return Values: The normalized string or NULL if an error occurred." There are several issues here: 1. what errors might possibly occur? Please can the documentation explain. 2. if an error occurs, then is there any way to get an error message? I can't see one. 3. It is very tempting to write code like: $string = normalizer_normalize($string, Normalizer::FORM_C); and imagine that it cannot possibly do any harm. Of course, that would be naive. one must save the return value into another variable, and then explicitly test for NULL. I consider myself a fairly experienced PHP developer, and I managed to screw this up: https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=220722 Anyway, these issues make this API a real pain to work-with. Could we have a version of this function that either returns the normalised string, or throws an exception? Test script: --------------- $string = "Well, I don't know actually. I have no idea what inputs may cause an error. The documentation does not say"; // Change this line as necessary to trigger the problem. $string = normalizer_normalize($string, Normalizer::FORM_C); if (!$string) { throw new Exception("Ha! Ha! All your data has been lost.); } echo $string; Expected result: ---------------- Input string is output. Actual result: -------------- Well, if you can find some suitable problematic input, then the actual result of the test script will be an exception. However, I cannot trigger it myself. One user of Moodle seems to have triggered it with the input string "July". See https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=220722. -- Edit bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=64090&edit=1 -- Try a snapshot (PHP 5.4): https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=64090&r=trysnapshot54 Try a snapshot (PHP 5.3): https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=64090&r=trysnapshot53 Try a snapshot (trunk): https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=64090&r=trysnapshottrunk Fixed in SVN: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=64090&r=fixed Fixed in release: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=64090&r=alreadyfixed Need backtrace: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=64090&r=needtrace Need Reproduce Script: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=64090&r=needscript Try newer version: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=64090&r=oldversion Not developer issue: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=64090&r=support Expected behavior: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=64090&r=notwrong Not enough info: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=64090&r=notenoughinfo Submitted twice: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=64090&r=submittedtwice register_globals: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=64090&r=globals PHP 4 support discontinued: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=64090&r=php4 Daylight Savings: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=64090&r=dst IIS Stability: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=64090&r=isapi Install GNU Sed: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=64090&r=gnused Floating point limitations: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=64090&r=float No Zend Extensions: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=64090&r=nozend MySQL Configuration Error: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=64090&r=mysqlcfg