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Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2026 14:36:00 +0100
Message-ID: <CAFyg4HgVWOwpiq98nYyu03nLXDdwg7n9abEc=XF3Mw2BRCrePw@mail.gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] [RFC] Trailing Boolean Operators
To: Len Woodward <len@artisan.build>
Cc: internals@lists.php.net
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From: azjezz@carthage.software (Seifeddine Gmati)

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On Tue, 3 Feb 2026 at 20:07, Len Woodward <len@artisan.build> wrote:
>
> Hi everyone,
>
> I think I've got this RFC into the expected state needed to announce it
and open discussion.
>
> Trailing Boolean Operators
>
> If the link doesn't work, here's the raw url:
> https://wiki.php.net/rfc/trailing_boolean_operators
>
> The TL;DR is that we allow what I'm calling a 'dangling' ('optional'
might be the better word) trailing boolean operator. Mirroring trailing
commas. It's designed to be a purely additive QoL improvement to help
reduce diffs.
>
> I'm both excited and anxious to see what you all think of it.
>
> Cheers,
> Len

Hi Len,

Thank you for the proposal, and congratulations on your first RFC!

However, I am not in favor of this specific change. Unlike commas, which
serve as separators, binary operators functionally demand a right-hand
operand. Allowing a trailing operator breaks this fundamental expectation
and introduces unnecessary ambiguity.

As a maintainer of a handwritten PHP parser (mago
<https://github.com/carthage-software/mago>), I can attest that supporting
this would be non-trivial. PHP's operator precedence/associativity is
already quite a mess (reference
<https://github.com/carthage-software/mago/blob/main/crates/syntax/src/parser/internal/expression.rs#L738-L797>),
and introducing trailing boolean operators adds parsing complexity without
providing proportional value to the language.

Cheers,
Seifeddine.

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<div dir=3D"ltr">On Tue, 3 Feb 2026 at 20:07, Len Woodward &lt;len@artisan.=
build&gt; wrote:<br>&gt;<br>&gt; Hi everyone,<br>&gt;<br>&gt; I think I&#39=
;ve got this RFC into the expected state needed to announce it and open dis=
cussion.<br>&gt;<br>&gt; Trailing Boolean Operators<br>&gt;<br>&gt; If the =
link doesn&#39;t work, here&#39;s the raw url:<br>&gt; <a href=3D"https://w=
iki.php.net/rfc/trailing_boolean_operators">https://wiki.php.net/rfc/traili=
ng_boolean_operators</a><br>&gt;<br>&gt; The TL;DR is that we allow what I&=
#39;m calling a &#39;dangling&#39; (&#39;optional&#39; might be the better =
word) trailing boolean operator. Mirroring trailing commas. It&#39;s design=
ed to be a purely additive QoL improvement to help reduce diffs.<br>&gt;<br=
>&gt; I&#39;m both excited and anxious to see what you all think of it.<br>=
&gt;<br>&gt; Cheers,<br>&gt; Len<br><br>Hi Len,<br><br>Thank you for the pr=
oposal, and congratulations on your first RFC!<br><br>However, I am not in =
favor of this specific change. Unlike commas, which serve as separators, bi=
nary operators functionally demand a right-hand operand. Allowing a trailin=
g operator breaks this fundamental expectation and introduces unnecessary a=
mbiguity.<br><br>As a maintainer of a handwritten PHP parser (<a href=3D"ht=
tps://github.com/carthage-software/mago">mago</a>), I can attest that suppo=
rting this would be non-trivial. PHP&#39;s operator precedence/associativit=
y is already quite a mess (<a href=3D"https://github.com/carthage-software/=
mago/blob/main/crates/syntax/src/parser/internal/expression.rs#L738-L797">r=
eference</a>), and introducing trailing boolean operators adds parsing comp=
lexity without providing proportional value to the language.<br><div><br></=
div><div>Cheers,</div><div>Seifeddine.</div></div>

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