Req #75017 [NEW]: Nullable Method Calling

From: php at haravikk dot me Operating system: PHP version: Next Major Version Package: PHP Language Specification Bug Type: Feature/Change Request Bug description:Nullable Method Calling Description: ------------ It was great to see the addition of the nil-coalescing operator in PHP 7, but one case that I encounter a lot but still appears to have no solution is calling a method on a variable that may be null. What I'd like to propose is a new nullable method calling operator, which would enable us to call a method on a variable that may be null; if the variable is null the method call is ignored and null is returned, otherwise the method is called and its result returned. My proposed operator for this would be ?->, i.e- a normal method operator, but with a question mark after the variable indicating that the developer is aware it could be null. Put of another way, if -> is "call method", then ?-> "call method if not null". We could then use this like so: $array = $object?->getFoo()?->getArray() ?? []; Here we use the operator to try to drill down into $object, seeking out an array. If either $object or $object->getFoo() returns null, then null is returned, triggering the nil coalescing operator and resulting in a default empty array. NOTE: This operator only handles null cases, i.e- if any of the methods above are called upon an object that doesn't have them, then an error is thrown as normal. -- Edit bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=75017&edit=1 -- Try a snapshot (PHP 5.4): https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=75017&r=trysnapshot54 Try a snapshot (PHP 5.5): https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=75017&r=trysnapshot55 Try a snapshot (trunk): https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=75017&r=trysnapshottrunk Fixed in SVN: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=75017&r=fixed Fixed in release: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=75017&r=alreadyfixed Need backtrace: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=75017&r=needtrace Need Reproduce Script: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=75017&r=needscript Try newer version: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=75017&r=oldversion Not developer issue: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=75017&r=support Expected behavior: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=75017&r=notwrong Not enough info: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=75017&r=notenoughinfo Submitted twice: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=75017&r=submittedtwice register_globals: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=75017&r=globals PHP 4 support discontinued: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=75017&r=php4 Daylight Savings: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=75017&r=dst IIS Stability: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=75017&r=isapi Install GNU Sed: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=75017&r=gnused Floating point limitations: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=75017&r=float No Zend Extensions: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=75017&r=nozend MySQL Configuration Error: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=75017&r=mysqlcfg