Newsgroups: php.internals
Path: news.php.net
Xref: news.php.net php.internals:130468
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
 boundary="------------kdfLqcQmq5dina1h2xyw306a"
Message-ID: <06a4003b-b74f-4fba-8f96-75fa395ff798@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 27 Mar 2026 16:19:23 +0100
Precedence: list
MIME-Version: 1.0
User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird
Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] [RFC] Four Pragmatic Directions for PHP: Simplicity,
 Arrays, Performance, Concurrency
Content-Language: fr
To: internals@lists.php.net
References: <tencent_D07F06F5B18B1450B922355C06A3ED7E4107@qq.com>
 <e3ea7fd0-3fa1-4f6f-a3a6-a7cc692d9d5f@alec.pl>
 <CAMXcktOAwUvQ0sBs9vpbG-L2AHqbaoy=fwKfKibVdSxtJW1ygA@mail.gmail.com>
 <5c6d66c4-4c17-444e-bb0a-2b8c4759d2db@app.fastmail.com>
 <48BA5AE0-FADB-4675-B2FC-D56AB7A793CA@rwec.co.uk>
 <ec381b0a-20e0-4009-9346-38bb2cce72e9@varteg.nz>
 <CAMXcktO1fjrf98YwiGqV7aOUgC62WOJ3kKSxhW4SYH_d8_jkHA@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <CAMXcktO1fjrf98YwiGqV7aOUgC62WOJ3kKSxhW4SYH_d8_jkHA@mail.gmail.com>
From: pierstoval@gmail.com (Alex Rock)

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
--------------kdfLqcQmq5dina1h2xyw306a
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

In that case, maybe reuse something similar to the null-safe operator ?

Something like `$foo['bar']?`

With the ability to have some freedom in placing the `?` character.

This way, you have both syntactic sugar:

     return $foo['one']?;
     // is roughly equivalent to:
     return $foo['one'] ?? null;


     return $foo['one']?['two'];
     // is roughly equivalent to:
     return $foo['one']['two'] ?? null;


And here it gets interesting:

     return $foo['one']['two']?['three'];
     // is roughly equivalent to:
     if (!isset($foo['bar']) {
     trigger_error('Undefined key "one" in ...', ...);
     }
     return $foo['one']['two']['three'] ?? null;


This brings a "new" way to deal with nested array keys (like explained 
in the first code samples).

I don't know about the parser yet, but technically, in language 
semantics, it is a unary-right, contrary to the "?" operator which is 
binary left&right and must be used alongside the ":" operator.

Would need an implementation and some tests to ensure the reliability.



Le 27/03/2026 à 06:26, Dan Liebner a écrit :
>
>     On 2026-03-27 03:58, Rowan Tommins [IMSoP] wrote:
>     > On 26 March 2026 07:51:31 GMT, Rob Landers <rob@bottled.codes>
>     wrote:
>     >
>     > - an "optional key access" operator like $foo[?'bar'] that makes
>     the intent explicit but concise
>
>     So, syntactic sugar for "($foo['bar'] ?? null)". 
>
>
> That, to me, would be a massive improvement in terms of code readability.
>
> On Thu, Mar 26, 2026 at 11:40 PM Morgan <Weedpacket@varteg.nz> wrote:
>
>     On 2026-03-27 03:58, Rowan Tommins [IMSoP] wrote:
>     > On 26 March 2026 07:51:31 GMT, Rob Landers <rob@bottled.codes>
>     wrote:
>     >
>     > - an "optional key access" operator like $foo[?'bar'] that makes
>     the intent explicit but concise
>
>     So, syntactic sugar for "($foo['bar'] ?? null)".
>
--------------kdfLqcQmq5dina1h2xyw306a
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
  </head>
  <body>
    <p>In that case, maybe reuse something similar to the null-safe
      operator ?<br>
      <br>
      Something like `$foo['bar']?`<br>
      <br>
      With the ability to have some freedom in placing the `?`
      character.<br>
      <br>
      This way, you have both syntactic sugar:<br>
      <br>
      <font face="monospace">    return $foo['one']?;<br>
            // is roughly equivalent to:<br>
            return $foo['one'] ?? null;<br>
        <br>
        <br>
            return $foo['one']?['two'];<br>
            // is roughly equivalent to:<br>
            return $foo['one']['two'] ?? null;</font><br>
      <br>
      <br>
      And here it gets interesting:<br>
      <br>
      <font face="monospace">    return $foo['one']['two']?['three'];<br>
            // is roughly equivalent to:<br>
            if (!isset($foo['bar']) {<br>
            trigger_error('Undefined key "one" in ...', ...);<br>
            }<br>
            return $foo['one']['two']['three'] ?? null;</font><br>
      <br>
      <br>
      This brings a "new" way to deal with nested array keys (like
      explained in the first code samples).<br>
      <br>
      I don't know about the parser yet, but technically, in language
      semantics, it is a unary-right, contrary to the "?" operator which
      is binary left&amp;right and must be used alongside the ":"
      operator.</p>
    <p>Would need an implementation and some tests to ensure the
      reliability.</p>
    <div class="moz-signature"><br>
      <br>
    </div>
    <div class="moz-cite-prefix">Le 27/03/2026 à 06:26, Dan Liebner a
      écrit :<br>
    </div>
    <blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:CAMXcktO1fjrf98YwiGqV7aOUgC62WOJ3kKSxhW4SYH_d8_jkHA@mail.gmail.com">
      <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
      <div dir="ltr">
        <blockquote class="gmail_quote"
style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><span
            class="gmail-im">On 2026-03-27 03:58, Rowan Tommins [IMSoP]
            wrote:</span><br>
          <span class="gmail-im">
            &gt; On 26 March 2026 07:51:31 GMT, Rob Landers
            <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:rob@bottled.codes">&lt;rob@bottled.codes&gt;</a> wrote:</span><br>
          <span class="gmail-im">
            &gt; </span><br>
          <span class="gmail-im">
            &gt; - an "optional key access" operator like $foo[?'bar']
            that makes the intent explicit but concise</span><br>
          <span class="gmail-im">
          </span><br>
          <span class="gmail-im"></span>
          So, syntactic sugar for "($foo['bar'] ?? null)".
        </blockquote>
        <br>
        That, to me, would be a massive improvement in terms of code
        readability.</div>
      <br>
      <div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container">
        <div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Thu, Mar 26, 2026 at
          11:40 PM Morgan &lt;<a href="mailto:Weedpacket@varteg.nz"
            moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">Weedpacket@varteg.nz</a>&gt;
          wrote:<br>
        </div>
        <blockquote class="gmail_quote"
style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">On
          2026-03-27 03:58, Rowan Tommins [IMSoP] wrote:<br>
          &gt; On 26 March 2026 07:51:31 GMT, Rob Landers
          <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:rob@bottled.codes">&lt;rob@bottled.codes&gt;</a> wrote:<br>
          &gt; <br>
          &gt; - an "optional key access" operator like $foo[?'bar']
          that makes the intent explicit but concise<br>
          <br>
          So, syntactic sugar for "($foo['bar'] ?? null)".<br>
        </blockquote>
      </div>
    </blockquote>
  </body>
</html>

--------------kdfLqcQmq5dina1h2xyw306a--