This is an old revision of the document!
PHP RFC: Shorter Attribute Syntax Change
- Version: 0.2
- Date: 2020-08-04
- Author: Derick Rethans, Benjamin Eberlei
- Status: Under Discussion
- First Published at: https://wiki.php.net/rfc/shorter_attribute_syntax_change
Introduction
Based on the expressions of concern over using @@ for Shorter Attribute Syntax RFC https://wiki.php.net/rfc/shorter_attribute_syntax, I propose to use #[], @[], or the original << … >> instead. Please keep in mind that we want the best syntax, and not necessarily the best looking syntax.
The main concern is that @@ has no ending symbol and it's inconsistent with the language that it would be the only declaration or statement in the whole language that has no ending termination symbol.
Proposal
Pick the best syntax from the following options, taking into account the different pros and cons:
| Syntax | @@Attr | #[Attr] | @[Attr] | <<Attr>> |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of required Characters | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| Has End Delimiter | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Allows Grouping (Accepted in previous RFC) | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Forward Compatibilty in PHP 7 | No | Yes | No | No |
| Breaks BC of valid PHP 7 code | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Used by other language | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| Familiar with Docblock Usage | Yes | No | No | No |
| Difficulties with Userland Parsers | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Target | 8.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 |
| Patch | - | patch |
Proposed PHP Version(s)
PHP 8.0
Proposed Voting Choices
An STV vote among all the qualifying syntaxes, running from August 10th, 00:00 UTC to August 23, 24:00 UTC.
Implementation
After the project is implemented, this section should contain
- the version(s) it was merged into
- a link to the git commit(s)
- a link to the PHP manual entry for the feature
- a link to the language specification section (if any)
References
Links to external references, discussions or RFCs
- Original RFC: https://wiki.php.net/rfc/shorter_attribute_syntax
- An RFC that by coincidence fixes the original parser conflict: https://wiki.php.net/rfc/namespaced_names_as_token