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Date: Sun, 4 Feb 2007 12:24:26 +0100
To: "Andi Gutmans" <andi@zend.com>
Cc: internals@lists.php.net
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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] Syntactic improvement to array
From: pierre.php@gmail.com (Pierre)

Hi Andi,

On 2/4/07, Andi Gutmans <andi@zend.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I thought I may have brought this up a long time ago but couldn't find anything in the archives.
> For a long time already I've been thinking about possibly adding a new syntax for array(...) which would be shorter. I'd suggest
> [...]. While I am usually not in favor of having more than one way to do things, I think it'd look much more elegant especially (but
> not only) for nested arrays.
>
> So what I'm thinking of is:
> array(1, 2, 3) == [1, 2, 3]
> array(1, 2, array("foo", "bar")) == [1, 2, ["foo", "bar"]]
> array("key" => 1, "key2" => 2) == ["key" => 1, "key2" => 2]
>
> $arr = [1, 2, 3]
> vs.
> $arr = array(1, 2, 3)
>
> Well enough examples given :)
> I think it's not worth doing unless there's overwhelming support as it's not desperately needed. But I'd be interested to hear
> people's thoughts. It seems implementation shouldn't be an issue but I'd have to dive a bit deeper.

I like this syntax, it is clear and easy to write. All other languages
use this syntax already (using either {} or [] but same principle) and
it can be done while keeping the classic array() definition. No need
to mention the numerous requests to add it to php.

--Pierre