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Date: Fri, 08 May 2026 09:49:17 +0200
To: LamentXU <1372449351@qq.com>
Cc: internals <internals@lists.php.net>
Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] [RFC] Deprecate Metaphone Function
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From: tim@bastelstu.be (=?UTF-8?Q?Tim_D=C3=BCsterhus?=)

Hi

Am 2026-04-25 12:33, schrieb LamentXU:
> I therefore would like to introduce a RFC to deprecate the metaphone 
> function. Maintaining this legacy function in the core provides little 
> value to modern PHP applications, and users could be advised to switch 
> to more accurate alternatives. Even in the case where strict backward 
> compatibility with core functions is preferred, people can still use 
> soundex instead.
> 
> RFC link: https://wiki.php.net/rfc/deprecate-metaphone
> 
> I am happy to know your thoughts on this.

I believe the deprecation of individual functions is better suited for 
the bulk deprecation RFC at 
https://wiki.php.net/rfc/deprecations_php_8_6, because there is often 
not much to discuss and having individual RFCs for everything just adds 
overhead.

That said: I don't think there is a strong argument in favor of 
deprecating metaphone. Yes, the algorithm is dated. Yes, we likely would 
not add this kind of functionality to the stdlib nowadays. But it's not 
*actively* harmful as far as I can tell. It does exactly what the name 
implies and it's not a security-sensitive function where we would want 
to steer users towards safer options.

Best regards
Tim Düsterhus