PHP RFC: Change var_export() array syntax to use shorthand arrays

• Version: 1.0
• Date: 2020-03-29
• Author: Sherif Ramadan, googleguy@php.net
• Status: Under Discussion
• First Published at: http://wiki.php.net/rfc/var-export-array-syntax

This RFC proposes to change var_export()'s array syntax to use the new short-hand arrays first introduced in PHP 5.4. The old array() construct is a kludge and is unappealing. The shorter syntax may be easier to read and takes up less space and is also more ubiquitous with JSON notation.

This change proposes 3 new bit-wise optional flags for var_export() and adding a third optional argument as follows:

1. VAR_EXPORT_SHORT_ARRAY
2. VAR_EXPORT_NO_INDEX
3. VAR_EXPORT_COMPACT

VAR_EXPORT_SHORT_ARRAY triggers the short-hand syntax for arrays which affects all 3 cases (arrays, object casting, stdclass casting). VAR_EXPORT_NO_INDEX will discard sequential numbered indexes starting from 0, which is currently the default behavior to include them. VAR_EXPORT_COMPACT will compact the output to one line rather than adding the additional new line characters at each stage. The last two options can be used without VAR_EXPORT_SHORT_ARRAY so they will have an affect on the output even without short hand array syntax.

Instead of

array (
  0 => 1,
  1 => 2,
  2 => 3,
)

var_export([1, 2, 3], false, VAR_EXPORT_SHORT_ARRAY) would now produce

[
  0 => 1,
  0 => 2,
  3 => 3,
]

This will effect things like stdClass and set_state as well since they are cast to objects from array literals and they use the long-form array syntax above.

So the following changes are also in effect:

$obj = new stdClass;
$obj->foo = "bar";
$obj->baz = "quix";
 
var_export($obj);
 
/*
Gives us:
(object) array(
   'foo' => 'bar',
   'baz' => 'quix',
)
*/
 
//With the new change it would be
 
var_export($obj, false, VAR_EXPORT_SHORT_ARRAY);
 
/*
(object) [
   'foo' => 'bar',
   'baz' => 'quix',
]
*/

The same happens for classes:

class Foo {
    public $bar = "baz";
}
 
var_export(new Foo);
 
/*
Gives us:
Foo::__set_state(array(
   'bar' => 'baz',
))
*/
 
 
//With the changes it would be:
 
var_export(new Foo, false, VAR_EXPORT_SHORT_ARRAY);
 
/*
Foo::__set_state([
   'bar' => 'baz',
])
*/

Using the other bitwise flags you can also do things like...

var_export([1,2,3], false, VAR_EXPORT_SHORT_ARRAY | VAR_EXPORT_NO_INDEX | VAR_EXPORT_COMPACT);
 
/*
  outputs:
 
  [1, 2, 3]
*/
 
var_export([1,2,3], false, VAR_EXPORT_SHORT_ARRAY | VAR_EXPORT_COMPACT);
 
/*
  outputs:
 
  [0 => 1, 1 => 2, 2 => 3]
*/
 
var_export([1,2,3], false, VAR_EXPORT_SHORT_ARRAY | VAR_EXPORT_NO_INDEX);
 
/*
  outputs:
 
  [
    1,
    2,
    3
  ]
*/

There shouldn't be any backwards incompatible changes as var_export() will continue to produce valid PHP code such that var_export() to PHP and PHP back to var_export() will continue to work as expected. The syntax changes are all forwards compatible as of PHP 5.4 so we shouldn't see any issues here.

PHP 8.0

None.

None.

None.

None.

To vote will be to either change var_export()'s array syntax to use the new short hand syntax or do not implement the change at all. I am not including an option to keep the old behavior, because I don't think it necessary. The change is forwards compatible and the old behavior should have zero effect on the outcome of the function's intent to produce valid PHP code. It is merely for aesthetics at that point.

The change only requires changing two lines in ext/standard/var.c (lines 530 and 540) to replace array ( and ) with [ and ].

See https://heap.space/xref/php-src/ext/standard/var.c?r=a9398056#530-540 for reference.

https://heap.space/xref/php-src/ext/standard/var.c?r=a9398056#530-540

https://news-web.php.net/php.internals/109415