rfc:intdiv

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PHP RFC: intdiv()

  • Version: 0.2
  • Date: 2014-07-15 (Last updated 2014-07-16)
  • Author: Andrea Faulds, ajf@ajf.me
  • Status: Accepted (Fallback proposal; operator rejected), merged into master
  • First Published at: http://wiki.php.net/rfc/intdiv

Introduction

PHP currently lacks a way to do integer division. While (int)(3 / 2), which does a floating-point division then casts to integer, does work most of the time, it does not return the correct result for integers beyond 53 bits as floats cannot represent integers beyond that point without loss of information. Furthermore, doing a floating-point division then casting seems hackish; it is a workaround for a lack of integer division, not a proper way to do it. Integer division can be quite useful in some contexts, for example when splitting a value into rows and columns, or converting seconds to hours and minutes. Having this also makes the language more complete; we have integer remainder (the modulo operator, %) yet not integer division at present.

Proposal

A new infix operator is added:

var_dump(3 %% 2); // int(1)

It returns the integer division of the first operand by the second. If the divisor (the second operand) is zero, it throws an E_WARNING and returns FALSE, just as the division operator does. If the first operator is LONG_MIN (-PHP_INT_MAX - 1) and the second is -1, it returns zero, much like the % operator.

Assignment is also supported:

$foobar = 3;
$foobar %%= 2;
var_dump($foobar); // int(1)

Fallback proposal

The original proposal was just to add a function. Should the operator fail to get in, I instead propose a new function is added to ext/standard's math functions:

intdiv(int $numerator, int $divisor)

It returns the integer division of $numerator by $divisor. If $divisor is zero, it throws an E_WARNING and returns FALSE, just as the division operator does. If the first operator is LONG_MIN (-PHP_INT_MAX - 1) and the second is -1, it returns zero, much like the % operator.

Backward Incompatible Changes

The %% operator wouldn't conflict with anything.

The fallback proposal, intdiv, would conflict with any existing userland functions called intdiv, but that's unlikely.

Proposed PHP Version(s)

Next PHP 5.x (i.e. PHP 5.7). Next PHP x (i.e. PHP 7).

Future Scope

None I can see.

Vote

Two votes are being held simultaneously:

  1. Merge the intdiv operator (%%) patch into master? Yes/No (requires 2/3 majority, language change)
  2. If the %% operator vote fails to achieve a 2/3 majority, should the intdiv() function patch be merged into master? Yes/No (requires 50%+1 majority, non-language change)

As the ext/standard function is to be considered a fallback option only, it would not be merged if the proper operator gets in.

Voting opened 2014-07-30 and ended 2014-08-06.

Merge the intdiv operator patch into master?
Real name Yes No
aharvey (aharvey)  
ajf (ajf)  
bishop (bishop)  
brianlmoon (brianlmoon)  
bwoebi (bwoebi)  
datibbaw (datibbaw)  
daverandom (daverandom)  
davey (davey)  
derick (derick)  
dm (dm)  
fa (fa)  
gwynne (gwynne)  
indeyets (indeyets)  
jedibc (jedibc)  
jpauli (jpauli)  
kriscraig (kriscraig)  
laruence (laruence)  
levim (levim)  
mbeccati (mbeccati)  
mfonda (mfonda)  
nikic (nikic)  
peehaa (peehaa)  
pollita (pollita)  
rasmus (rasmus)  
rdlowrey (rdlowrey)  
stas (stas)  
tyrael (tyrael)  
yunosh (yunosh)  
zeev (zeev)  
Final result: 5 24
This poll has been closed.

If the operator vote fails to achieve a 2/3 majority, should the intdiv() function patch be merged into master?
Real name Yes No
aharvey (aharvey)  
ajf (ajf)  
bishop (bishop)  
brianlmoon (brianlmoon)  
bwoebi (bwoebi)  
datibbaw (datibbaw)  
daverandom (daverandom)  
davey (davey)  
derick (derick)  
dm (dm)  
fa (fa)  
gwynne (gwynne)  
indeyets (indeyets)  
jedibc (jedibc)  
jpauli (jpauli)  
kriscraig (kriscraig)  
laruence (laruence)  
mbeccati (mbeccati)  
mfonda (mfonda)  
nikic (nikic)  
peehaa (peehaa)  
pollita (pollita)  
rasmus (rasmus)  
rdlowrey (rdlowrey)  
stas (stas)  
tyrael (tyrael)  
yunosh (yunosh)  
zeev (zeev)  
Final result: 28 0
This poll has been closed.

Patches and Tests

A fully-working patch against master with tests has been made. The pull request is here: https://github.com/php/php-src/pull/724

The pull request for the fallback (and original proposal) of just the ext/standard function is here: https://github.com/php/php-src/pull/722

Implementation

After the project is implemented, this section should contain

  1. the version(s) it was merged to
  2. a link to the git commit(s)
  3. a link to the PHP manual entry for the feature

References

Somewhat inspired by Python's // operator, and the equivalent div operator in Pascal and Game Maker Language (a somewhat obscure C-like partially object-oriented scripting language, which probably inherited this from Pascal). The choice of the %% syntax is thanks to Bishop Bettini's suggestion on internals.

Rejected Features

None yet.

Changelog

  • 0.2 - Propose %% operator instead
  • 0.1 - Created, intdiv() function
rfc/intdiv.1410894433.txt.gz · Last modified: 2017/09/22 13:28 (external edit)