PHP RFC: Your Title Here

• Version: 1.0
• Date: 2016-06-10
• Author: Levi Morrison levim@php.net
• Status: Draft
• First Published at: https://wiki.php.net/rfc/ReflectionTypeImprovements

For PHP 7.0 the ReflectionType API was introduced in conjunction with return types. Its minimal API was intended to be the base for future improvements; this RFC contains those improvements.

This RFC adds several new subtypes for ReflectionType; here is their hierarchy:

• ReflectionType (already exists)
  • ReflectionSingularType
    • ReflectionIntType
    • ReflectionFloatType
    • ReflectionBoolType
    • ReflectionStringType
    • ReflectionArrayType
    • ReflectionCallableType
    • ReflectionVoidType
    • ReflectionClassType

ReflectionSingularType has a new method named getName() which returns the string name of the type it represents. Here is a stub the represents its API:

class ReflectionSingularType extends ReflectionType {
    public function getName(): string;
}

A call to the getName() method of a SingularType that represents any of int, ?int or int $foo = null will return int in each case. Note that the toString method would return int, ?int and ?int respectively. ReflectionClassType has an additional method getClass() that obtains the ReflectionClass of the type it represents. Here is its stub: <PHP> class ReflectionClassType extends ReflectionSingularType { public function getClass(): ReflectionClass; } </PHP> The engine will return a subtype of ReflectionSingularType if possible. For builtin types the engine will return ReflectionIntType, ReflectionFloatType, etc as appropriate. If the engine does not recognize a type it will call the autoloader; if the class is found then a ReflectionClassType will be returned and otherwise a plain ReflectionSingularType will be returned. ===== Backward Incompatible Changes ===== There is a change for ReflectionType::__toString() which will now include a ? for nullable types. This change is justified for several reason: - ReflectionType was introduced in 7.0 and therefore adoption is low - The change reflects the intention of the meaning of __toString to be the string representation of the type that would pass syntax checking. Unfortunately this intention wasn't formally documented thus classifying this as a BC break. ===== PHP Version ===== This RFC targets PHP 7.Next which is currently version 7.1. ===== Unaffected PHP Functionality ===== ReflectionClass is unaffected; this only touches ReflectionType''. ===== Voting ===== It is unclear if voting requires 50%+1 or 2/3. On one hand this is not a language change but on the other this does contain a BC break. Rather than debating it one way or the other I've chosen to require 2/3. The vote will be a simple yes or no for these changes. ===== Patches and Tests ===== The patch for this is not difficult; it will be coming soon.