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Date: Thu, 4 Feb 2021 20:53:23 +0100
Message-ID: <CAF+90c-Vyu-z0v6ZjisSen62Pd=nFxVWi1Y8KhY5jqms0nPsUg@mail.gmail.com>
To: tyson andre <tysonandre775@hotmail.com>
Cc: "internals@lists.php.net" <internals@lists.php.net>
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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] Re: [RFC] var_representation() : readable alternative
 to var_export()
From: nikita.ppv@gmail.com (Nikita Popov)

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On Thu, Feb 4, 2021 at 3:36 PM tyson andre <tysonandre775@hotmail.com>
wrote:

> Hi internals,
>
> > I've created https://wiki.php.net/rfc/readable_var_representation based
> on
> > my original proposal in https://externals.io/message/112924
> >
> > This RFC proposes adding a new function `var_representation(mixed
> $value, int $flags=0): string`
> > with the following differences from var_export:
> >
> > 1. var_representation() unconditionally returns a string
> > 2. Use `null` instead of `NULL` - lowercase is recommended by more coding
> >    guidelines (https://www.php-fig.org/psr/psr-2/).
> > 3. Change the way indentation is done for arrays/objects.
> >    See ext/standard/tests/general_functions/short_var_export1.phpt
> >    (e.g. always add 2 spaces, never 3 in objects, and put the array
> start on the
> >    same line as the key)
> > 4. Render lists as `"['item1']"` rather than `"array(\n  0 =>
> 'item1',\n)"`
> >
> >    Always render empty lists on a single line, render multiline by
> default when there are 1 or more elements
> > 5. Prepend `\` to class names so that generated code snippets can be
> used in
> >    namespaces without any issues.
> > 6. Support `VAR_REPRESENTATION_SINGLE_LINE` in `$flags`.
> >    This will use a single-line representation for arrays/objects, though
> >    strings with embedded newlines will still cause newlines in the
> output.
> > 7. If a string contains control characters("\x00"-"\x1f" and
> "\x7f"(backspace)),
> >    then represent the entire string as a double quoted string
> >    escaping `\r`, `\n`, `\t`, `\$`, `\\`, and `\"`, in addition to
> escaping remaining control characters
> >    with hexadecimal encoding (\x00, \x7f, etc)
> >
> > This is different from my original proposal in two ways:
> > 1. The function signature and name changed from my previous proposal.
> >     It now always returns a string.
> > 2. Backspace control characters (\x7f) are now also escaped.
>
> A reminder that voting on the var_representation RFC starts in a day.
> This RFC proposes adding a new function `var_representation(mixed $value,
> int $flags=0): string` with multiple improvements on `var_export()`.
>
> Any other feedback?
>
> Thanks,
> - Tyson
>

Given the recent discussion in the interactive shell thread, I think you
should consider whether the new function could also be expanded to serve
that use case. I think that if we're going to add one more dumping function
to the 4 we already have, it better cover all the use-cases we have. The
"limited size dump" doesn't really fit in with "dump is executable PHP
code", but if I understand correctly, executable PHP code is not the whole
goal of the proposal.

Regards,
Nikita

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