Re: [PATCH] substr() returns false

Not sure if/how this should be changed. Isn't it a mistake to give a start position at the end or beyond the string? In this case, doesn't it make sense to return false? Andi At 02:39 PM 11/19/2003 +0100, Morten Poulsen wrote:

Hi, Even though this is documented, it is strange behaviour: If the from parameter to substr() is at, or past, the end of the input string, the function returns false. The function is documented as string substr ( string string, int start [, int length]) IMHO substr() should either 1) be changed to do like Perl, which returns an error only if start is _beyond_ the end (not _at_): (from http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/func/substr.html) my $null = substr $name, 6, 2; # returns '' (no warning)

my $oops = substr $name, 7;     # returns undef, with warning

2) be changed to return an empty string, if start is either at or beyond the end of the input string. I have attached patches for both solutions. If you don't change it to be like Perl, I think it should be noted in the documentation (as with chop()). If, on the other hand, it _is_ changed to behave like Perl, I think it should be emphasized that you are not guaranteed that the result is a string, because this will cause (eg. has caused us) problems when using the result as part of the $data array to PEAR DB::execute(). Happy hacking, Morten -- Morten Poulsen <morten-Qg2caEh8@afdelingp.dk> http://www.afdelingp.dk/ -- PHP Internals - PHP Runtime Development Mailing List To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php