Re: var_export array syntax

On Thu, Aug 13, 2026, at 1:25 PM, dev@hatlak.de wrote: > Hi! > > I'm a seasoned PHP developer (started around when PHP 2 was still in > use), yet this is the first time I'm getting involved beyond > documentation fixes. I have ~0 knowledge in the internals, so bear with > me. > > Since I've been around that long, I've seen PHP evolve steadily. But > one thing I kept asking myself was why the old array syntax is still > promoted by some parts of user-facing functions, namely var_export. > That happens to for example be used by tools like PhpStorm/Xdebug to > copy current contents of variables while debugging. > > My personal preferences (deprecate/kill the old array syntax > altogether) aside, I wonder what the path forward is and what blocks > it. RFC var-export-array-syntax has been created 6 years ago but I > cannot see why it stalled, esp. since it seems to be confined to a very > specific part of the source code. > > I remember to have read somewhere that the current syntax is used in > many phpt files which would have to be adapted. Given the current day > and age, that sounds like something that AI would do while asleep. So > what else would be an issue? > > So I thought I'd ask here first before creating yet another RFC that > might go stale just as quickly as the existing one. > > My concrete proposal: > 1. add a (user) config switch that allows to enable var_dump to use the > new array syntax, off by default in whichever PHP version this land > first (e.g. 8.6 if it's not too late already). phpt files can stay as > is, but a new test for when the switch is On would be needed. > 2. switch the default to On in a later PHP version (9.0 the latest), > then adapting the phpt files > 3. first deprecate and then remove the config switch in even later > versions > > WDYT? > > Greetings, > > Jens Without stating an opinion on the matter, here's some prior discussions of the topic: https://externals.io/message/106674 https://externals.io/message/101883 https://externals.io/message/112924 --Larry Garfield