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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] Add is_vectorlike($array) function
From: rowan.collins@gmail.com (Rowan Collins)

On 5 May 2017 22:19:51 BST, Ryan Pallas <derokorian@gmail=2Ecom> wrote:
>I just read this thread and am wondering what exactly is the use case?
>Like
>are you going to do something if it is vector-like, and do something
>different (or not do anything at all) if it's not vector-like? I mean,
>if
>you have to crawl it, and need a vector, why not just call array_values
>and
>guarantee you have a vector?

I gave one use case in an earlier message: many serialisation formats have=
 a different form for ordered lists vs key-value pairs=2E As an obvious exa=
mple, look at JSON arrays and objects, and many other formats have similar =
types=2E

It can also be quite intuitive to have a function accept either a list of =
prepared items or a set of key-value pairs representing structured data=2E =
For instance, HTTP headers might be prepared like ['User-Agent: example'] o=
r structured like ['User-Agent' =3D> 'example']=2E Turning the second into =
the first requires more than just running array_values, but can be skipped =
if the input is known to be vector-like=2E

Arrays that have integer keys, but not all sequential, can be a bit of an =
edge case, but treating them as a list throws away information, so it's usu=
ally safer to treat them as key-value pairs=2E

Regards,

--=20
Rowan Collins
[IMSoP]