Version 1.2 of the document introduces new versions of PHP including PHP 5.6 and PHP 7. PHP 5.6 included new features like constant expressions, variadic functions, and exponentiation. PHP 7 included major performance improvements and introduced scalar type declarations, return type declarations, and new operators like the nullsafe operator and spaceship comparison operator. PHP 7 also removed alternative PHP tags and deprecated old PHP codes. Future versions of PHP will focus on additional type declarations and other new language features.

1. Introducing new version
Version 1.2 - 6/08/2015

2. Table of contents
● Preamble
● PHP5.6: in case you missed something
a. Overview
b. New features
● PHP7: future is coming
a. Overview
b. What's new

3. Preamble
● Use filter_var()
// Check valid email
bool filter_var('example@site.tld', FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL);
// Remove empty values
$data = array(
'value1' => '',
'value2' => null,
'value3' => []
);
filter_var_array($data); // return empty array
● Speed the code
DON'T open/close PHP tags for excessive.
DON'T use GLOBALS

4. ● release date: August 2014
● PHP5: last branch release
PHP5.6: Overview

5. PHP5.6: New features
● Constant expressions
const ONE = 1;
// Scalar Expression in constant
const TWO = ONE * 2;
● Variadic functions/Argument unpacking
function myTools($name, ...$tools) {
echo "Name:". $name.'<br />';
echo "My Tool Count:". count(tools);
}
myTools('Avinash', 'Eclipse');
myTools('Avinash', 'Eclipse', 'Sublime');
myTools('Avinash', 'Eclipse', 'Sublime', 'PHPStorm');
function myTools($name, $tool1, $tool2, $tool3) {
echo "Name:". $name.'<br />';
echo "Tool1:", $tool1.'<br />';
echo "Tool2:", $tool2.'<br />';
echo "Tool3:", $tool3;
}
$myTools = ['Eclipse', 'Sublime', 'PHPStorm'];
myTools('Avinash', ...$myTools);

6. PHP5.6: New features
● Exponentiation
// PHP5.5 and before
pow(2, 8); // 256
// PHP5.6 and after
echo 2 ** 8; // 256
echo 2 ** 2 ** 4; // 256
● use function and use const
namespace NameSpace {
const FOO = 42;
function f() { echo __FUNCTION__."n"; }
}
namespace {
use const NameSpaceFOO;
use function NameSpacef;
echo FOO."n";
f();
}

7. PHP5.6: New features
● phpdbg: The interactive debugger
http://phpdbg.com/docs
● php://input
// Now deprecated
$HTTP_RAW_POST_DATA
// This is now reusable
file_get_contents('php://input');
● Large file uploads
Files larger than 2 gigabytes in size are now accepted.

8. PHP5.6: New features
● __debugInfo()
class C {
private $prop;
public function __construct($val) {
$this->prop = $val;
}
public function __debugInfo() {
return [
'propSquared' => $this->prop ** 2,
];
}
}
var_dump(new C(42));
object(C)#1 (1) {
["propSquared"]=>
int(1764)
}

9. ● Release date: October 2015
● Engine: Zend v3 (32/64 bits)
● Performance: 25% to 70% faster
● Backward Incompatible Changes
● New Parser
● Tidy up old things
● Many new features
PHP7: Overview

10. ● Scalar Type Declarations
// must be the first statement in a file.
// If it appears anywhere else in the file it will generate a compiler error.
declare(strict_types=1);
// Available type hints
int, float, string, bool
// Examples
function add(string $a, string $b): string {
return $a + $b;
}
function add(int $a, int $b): int {
return $a + $b;
}
function add(float $a, float $b): float {
return $a + $b;
}
function add(bool $a, bool $b): bool {
return $a + $b;
}
PHP7: What's new

11. ● Group Use Declarations
// PHP7
use FooLibraryBarBaz{ ClassA, ClassB, ClassC, ClassD as Fizbo };
// Before PHP7
use FooLibraryBarBazClassA;
use FooLibraryBarBazClassB;
use FooLibraryBarBazClassC;
use FooLibraryBarBazClassD as Fizbo;
● switch.default.multiple
Will raise E_COMPILE_ERROR when multiple default blocks are found in a switch statement.
PHP7: What's new

12. ● Alternative PHP tags removed
<% // opening tag
<%= // opening tag with echo
%> // closing tag
(<scripts+languages*=s*(php|"php"|'php')s*>)i // opening tag
(</script>)i // closing tag
● Return Type Declarations
// Returning array // Overriding a method that did not
have a return type:
function foo(): array { interface Comment {}
return []; interface CommentsIterator extends
Iterator {
} function
current(): Comment;
}
// Returning object
interface A {
static function make(): A;
}
class B implements A {
static function make(): A {
return new B();
}
}
PHP7: What's new

13. ● Update json parser extension
json extension has been replaced by jsond extension
echo json_encode(10.0); // Output 10
echo json_encode(10.1); // Output 10.1
echo json_encode(10.0, JSON_PRESERVE_ZERO_FRACTION); // Output 10.0
echo json_encode(10.1, JSON_PRESERVE_ZERO_FRACTION); // Output 10.1
var_dump(json_decode(json_encode(10.0, JSON_PRESERVE_ZERO_FRACTION))); // Output double(10)
var_dump(10.0 === json_decode(json_encode(10.0, JSON_PRESERVE_ZERO_FRACTION))); // Output bool(true)
● Removing old codes
PHP4 constructor
Removal of dead/unmaintained/deprecated SAPIs and extensions (imap, mcrypt, mysql, ereg,
aolserver, isapi, ...)
Remove the date.timezone warning
PHP7: What's new

14. ● new operators
o Nullsafe Calls
function f($o) {
$o2 = $o->mayFail1();
if ($o2 === null) {
return null;
}
$o3 = $o2->mayFail2();
if ($o3 === null) {
return null;
}
$o4 = $o3->mayFail3();
if ($o4 === null) {
return null;
}
return $o4->mayFail4();
}
function f($o) {
return $o?->mayFail1()?->mayFail2()?->mayFail3()?->mayFail4();
}
PHP7: What's new

15. ● new operators
o Spaceship
PHP7: What's new
operator <=> equivalent
$a < $b ($a <=> $b) === -1
$a <= $b ($a <=> $b) === -1 || ($a <=> $b) === 0
$a == $b ($a <=> $b) === 0
$a != $b ($a <=> $b) !== 0
$a >= $b ($a <=> $b) === 1 || ($a <=> $b) === 0
$a > $b ($a <=> $b) === 1

16. ● new operators
o Null Coalesce
// Without null coalesce
$username = isset($_GET['user']) ? $_GET['user'] : 'nobody';
// With null coalesce
$username = $_GET['user'] ?? 'nobody';
PHP7: What's new

17. ● Context Sensitive Lexer
PHP7: What's new
Newly reserved Now possible
int Class::forEach()
float Class::list()
bool Class::for()
string Class::and()
true, false Class::or()
null Class::new()
Class::include()
const CONTINUE

18. ● Anonymous class support
/* implementing an anonymous console object from your framework maybe */
(new class extends ConsoleProgram {
public function main() {
/* ... */
}
})->bootstrap();
class Foo {}
$child = new class extends Foo {};
var_dump($child instanceof Foo); // true
// New Hotness
$pusher->setLogger(new class {
public function log($msg) {
print_r($msg . "n");
}
});
PHP7: What's new

19. ● Uniform Variable Syntax
// old meaning // new meaning
$$foo['bar']['baz'] ${$foo['bar']['baz']} ($$foo)['bar']['baz']
$foo->$bar['baz'] $foo->{$bar['baz']} ($foo->$bar)['baz']
$foo->$bar['baz']() $foo->{$bar['baz']}() ($foo->$bar)['baz']()
Foo::$bar['baz']() Foo::{$bar['baz']}() (Foo::$bar)['baz']()
// Before
global $$foo->bar;
// Instead use
global ${$foo->bar};
● Unicode Codepoint Escape Syntax
"U+202E" // String composed by U+ will now not be parsed as special characters
echo "u{1F602}"; // outputs 😂
● Instance class by reference not working anymore
$class = &new Class(); // Will now return a Parse error
PHP7: What's new

20. ● Loop else
foreach ($array as $x) {
echo "Name: {$x->name}n";
} else {
echo "No records found!n";
}
● Named Parameters
// Using positional arguments:
htmlspecialchars($string, double_encode => false);
// Same as
htmlspecialchars($string, ENT_COMPAT | ENT_HTML401, 'UTF-8', false);
// non changing default value
htmlspecialchars($string, default, default, false);
PHP7: Proposed features/In draft

21. ● Union Types: multi types
function (array|Traversable $in) {
foreach ($in as $value) {
echo $value, PHP_EOL;
}
}
● Enum types
enum RenewalAction {
Deny,
Approve
}
function other(RenewalAction $action): RenewalAction {
switch ($action) {
case RenewalAction::Approve:
return RenewalAction::Deny;
case RenewalAction::Deny:
return RenewalAction::Approve;
}
}
PHP7: Proposed features/In draft

22. PHPNG: Next Generation
● PHP8.0: 2020
● PHP9.0: 2025

23. PHP7: References
● PHP: rfc
● Etat des lieux et avenir de PHP
● En route pour PHP7