# Syntactic improvement to array

- Thread: https://externals.io/message/27802
- Original archive: https://news-web.php.net/php.internals/27802
- Started by Ford on 2007-02-05T11:18:32+00:00
- Messages: 1
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## #27802 — Ford — 2007-02-05T11:18:32+00:00

URL: https://externals.io/message/27802#27802

> 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.

Overwhelming support from here ;-D

Seriously, I personally find the [...] syntax really elegant and
intuitive, and the array(...) syntax really hard to read and
obfuscating.

A BIG +1

Cheers!

Mike

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