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Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2025 14:00:27 +0000
To: PHP internals <internals@lists.php.net>
Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] coerce() function
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From: imsop.php@rwec.co.uk ("Rowan Tommins [IMSoP]")

Hi Dmitry,

On 10 December 2025 07:42:27 GMT, Dmitry Derepko <xepozzd@gmail=2Ecom> wro=
te:

>I suggest to add such function to PHP=2E The examples above may look like=
 the following
>
>$var =3D coerce($input, variants: [=E2=80=9Cyes=E2=80=9D, =E2=80=9Cno=E2=
=80=9D], default: =E2=80=9Cyes=E2=80=9D);
>$var =3D coerce($input, min: 0, max: 10, default: 5);
>$var =3D coerce($input, min: 0, max: 10, default: 5);
>
>For sure, that could be different functions not to introduce another over=
loading function=2E Or range arguments could be replaced with `range(0, 10)=
` function=2E

My first thought was that the min/max variant would be covered by the rece=
ntly-accepted clamp() function: https://wiki=2Ephp=2Enet/rfc/clamp_v2 Looki=
ng closer, I see that you want to default to a specific value, not the near=
est, so it's not quite the same=2E

I think combining both tasks into one function is definitely the wrong app=
roach=2E PHP doesn't have function overloading, and although you can partia=
lly stimulate it with nullable and optional parameters, the whole thing end=
s up very messy compared to just having separate functions=2E=20

Using range() to pass in an array would be less efficient than min and max=
, but maybe good enough for small ranges=2E Perhaps in future we will have =
a separate "lazy range" type, which could then be handled as a special case=
=2E

In general, I don't think it's a function that I'd use often, but it seems=
 a reasonable enough addition to the language=2E

Thanks,

Rowan Tommins
[IMSoP]