Newsgroups: php.internals
Path: news.php.net
Xref: news.php.net php.internals:128249
Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2025 10:14:08 +0000
To: Alexandre Daubois <alex.daubois+php@gmail.com>
Cc: PHP internals list <internals@lists.php.net>
Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] [DISCUSSION] Adding the "is_integer_safe()" function
Message-ID: <eygMhmhgK20prGJuixZ6d0CIDrKKj17NnXvkmsSzzTzwNzbZbWp8hOJz3UBm4RVkVpzuck84NcO3AdMTmDhqBP-GlDHg0Kd0vX5tK0E5x8A=@gpb.moe>
In-Reply-To: <CAMU7irKKsXxe4j07tsiW45=EWt=fE56Wcz0tdXjdbhYkW3AhJw@mail.gmail.com>
References: <CAMU7irKKsXxe4j07tsiW45=EWt=fE56Wcz0tdXjdbhYkW3AhJw@mail.gmail.com>
Feedback-ID: 96993444:user:proton
Precedence: bulk
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
From: internals@gpb.moe ("Gina P. Banyard")

On Friday, 25 July 2025 at 14:43, Alexandre Daubois <alex.daubois+php@gmail=
.com> wrote:

> Hello Internals,
>=20
> I would like to gather feedback on the proposal to add an
> "is_integer_safe()" function to PHP. The idea came to me while
> replying to a thread [1], but I think creating a discussion is more
> appropriate.
>=20
> Here are a few reasons I think this would be useful:
>=20
> - PHP automatically converts integers that exceed PHP_INT_MAX to
> float, which can cause undetected precision loss. This function would
> allow checking that an integer remains within safe bounds before
> critical operations ;
> - Integer limits vary between 32-bit and 64-bit systems. This function
> would provide a standardized way to check the portability of integer
> values across different architectures ;
> - This would improve code readability. We had the case in Symfony [2]
> to implement a JSONPath crawler, and the solution feels hacky to say
> the least ;
> - PHP already has functions like `is_finite()` and `is_nan()` for
> floats. Adding `is_integer_safe()` would logically complete this set
> of type validation functions.
> - Of course more optimized than dealing with strings and using
> arithmetic operators on strings ;
> - As PHP continues to evolve towards stricter type safety
> (strict_types, typed properties, etc.), having more granular type
> validation functions supports this direction.
>=20
> If this proposition gets some interest, I'll take care of the
> implementation in the engine. I guess it would also require an RFC.
>=20
> Best,
> Alex
>=20
> [1] https://externals.io/message/128032
> [2] https://github.com/symfony/symfony/blob/d3a0df0243e1c68598fa066eaa6cd=
0cf39f256dc/src/Symfony/Component/JsonPath/JsonPathUtils.php#L243

Naming aside, I would be very much in favour of anything that makes it easi=
er to make bidirectional transformations between floats and ints reliable.
For naming, maybe the following pair of functions make sense?
- is_representable_as_int()
- is_representable_as_float()


Best regards,

Gina P. Banyard