Expressions

General

An expression involves one or more terms and zero or more operators.

A full expression is an expression that is not part of another expression.

A side effect is an action that changes the state of the execution environment. (Examples of such actions are modifying a variable, writing to a device or file, or calling a function that performs such operations).

When an expression is evaluated, it produces a result. It might also produce a side effect. Only a few operators produce side effects. (For example, given the expression statement $v = 10; the expression 10 is evaluated to the result 10, and there is no side effect. Then the assignment operator is executed, which results in the side effect of $v being modified. The result of the whole expression is the value of $v after the assignment has taken place. However, that result is never used. Similarly, given the expression statement ++$v; the expression is evaluated to the result incremented-value-of-$v, and the side effect is that $v is actually incremented. Again, the result is never used).

The occurrence of value computation and side effects is delimited by sequence points, places in a program’s execution at which all the computations and side effects previously promised are complete, and no computations or side effects of future operations have yet begun. There is a sequence point at the end of each full expression. The logical and, logical or, conditional, coalesce and function call operators each contain a sequence point. (For example, in the following series of expression statements, $a = 10; ++$a; $b = $a;, there is sequence point at the end of each full expression, so the assignment to $a is completed before $a is incremented, and the increment is completed before the assignment to $b).

When an expression contains multiple operators, the precedence of those operators controls the order in which those operators are applied. (For example, the expression $a - $b / $c is evaluated as $a - ($b / $c) because the / operator has higher precedence than the binary - operator). The precedence of an operator is determined by the definition of its associated grammar production.

If an operand occurs between two operators having the same precedence, the order in which the operations are performed is determined by those operators’ associativity. With left-associative operators, operations are performed left-to-right. (For example, $a + $b - $c is evaluated as ($a + $b) - $c). With right-associative operators, operations are performed right-to-left. (For example, $a = $b = $c is evaluated as $a = ($b = $c)).

Precedence and associativity can be controlled using grouping parentheses. (For example, in the expression ($a - $b) / $c, the subtraction is done before the division. Without the grouping parentheses, the division would take place first).

While precedence, associativity, and grouping parentheses control the order in which operators are applied, they do not control the order of evaluation of the terms themselves. Unless stated explicitly in this specification, the order in which the operands in an expression are evaluated relative to each other is unspecified. See the discussion above about the operators that contain sequence points. (For example, in the full expression $list1[$i] = $list2[$i++], whether the value of $i on the left-hand side is the old or new $i, is unspecified. Similarly, in the full expression $j = $i + $i++, whether the value of $i is the old or new $i, is unspecified. Finally, in the full expression f() + g() * h(), the order in which the three functions are called, is unspecified).

Implementation Notes

An expression that contains no side effects and whose resulting value is not used need not be evaluated. For example, the expression statements 6;, $i + 6;, and $i/$j; are well formed, but they contain no side effects and their results are not used.

A side effect need not be executed if it can be determined that no other program code relies on its having happened. (For example, in the cases of return $a++; and return ++$a;, it is obvious what value must be returned in each case, but if $a is a variable local to the enclosing function, $a need not actually be incremented.

Primary Expressions

General

Syntax

primary-expression:
   variable
   class-constant-access-expression
   constant-access-expression
   literal
   array-creation-expression
   intrinsic
   anonymous-function-creation-expression
   object-creation-expression
   postfix-increment-expression
   postfix-decrement-expression
   prefix-increment-expression
   prefix-decrement-expression
   byref-assignment-expression
   shell-command-expression
   (   expression   )

Semantics

The type and value of parenthesized expression are identical to those of the un-parenthesized expression.

Simple Variable

Syntax

simple-variable:
   variable-name
   $   simple-variable
   $   {   expression   }

Constraints

The simple-variable or expression in the last two variants must designate a scalar value or object convertible to string.

Semantics

A simple-variable expression designates a variable with the name determined by either the variable-name or the string representation of the result of the simple-variable or expression, depending on which case is applicable. In the latter two cases the variable name may contain characters that are not allowed in a lexical variable-name.

The behavior of a simple-variable in different contexts and for different types of variables is as specified in the variables section.

The variable $this is predefined inside any non-static instance method (including constructor) when that method is called from within an object context. The value of $this is the calling object or the object being constructed.

Examples

$color = "red";
$$color = 123;    // equivalent to $red = 123
// -----------------------------------------
$x = 'ab'; $ab = 'fg'; $fg = 'xy';
$$ $ $x = 'Hello';  // equivalent to $xy = Hello
// -----------------------------------------
$v1 = 3;
$$v1 = 22;        // equivalent to ${3} = 22, variable name is "3"
$v2 = 9.543;
$$v2 = TRUE;    // equivalent to ${9.543} = TRUE
$v3 = NULL;
$$v3 = "abc";   // equivalent to ${NULL} = "abc", here we create a variable with empty name
// -----------------------------------------
function f1 () { return 2.5; }
${1 + f1()} = 1000;   // equivalent to ${3.5} = 1000

Dereferencable expression

Syntax

dereferencable-expression:
   variable
   (   expression   )
   array-creation-expression
   string-literal

callable-expression:
   callable-variable
   (   expression   )
   array-creation-expression
   string-literal

Constraints

The string-literal must not use variable interpolation and must not be a heredoc or nowdoc string literal.

Semantics

A dereferencable-expression can be used as the left hand side of dereferencing operators, such as [], -> and ::. A callable-expression can be used as the left hand side of the function call operator.

Variables

Syntax

callable-variable:
   simple-variable
   subscript-expression
   member-call-expression
   scoped-call-expression
   function-call-expression

variable:
   callable-variable
   scoped-property-access-expression
   member-access-expression

Semantics

A variable is an expression that can in principle be used as an lvalue. However, the individual possible expressions may further restrict whether they can behave as lvalues. An expression that is not a variable can never act as an lvalue.

Constant Access Expression

constant-access-expression:
   qualified-name

Semantics

A constant-access-expression evaluates to the value of the constant with name qualified-name.

Literals

Syntax

literal:
   integer-literal
   floating-literal
   string-literal

Semantics

A literal evaluates to its value, as specified in the lexical specification for literals.

Intrinsics

General

Syntax

intrinsic:
   empty-intrinsic
   eval-intrinsic
   exit-intrinsic
   isset-intrinsic

Semantics

The names in this series of sections have special meaning and are called intrinsics, but they are not keywords; nor are they functions, they are language constructs that are interpreted by the Engine.

empty

Syntax

empty-intrinsic:
   empty   (   expression   )

Semantics

This intrinsic returns TRUE if the variable or value designated by expression is empty, where empty means that the variable designated by it does not exist, or it exists and its value compares equal to FALSE. Otherwise, the intrinsic returns FALSE.

The following values are considered empty: FALSE, 0, 0.0, "" (empty string), "0", NULL, an empty array, and any uninitialized variable.

If this intrinsic is used with an expression that designates a dynamic property, then if the class of that property has an __isset, that method is called. If that method returns TRUE, the value of the property is retrieved (which may call __get if defined) and compared to FALSE as described above. Otherwise, the result is FALSE.

Examples

empty("0");  // results in TRUE
empty("00"); // results in FALSE
$v = [10, 20];
empty($v);   // results in FALSE

eval

Syntax

eval-intrinsic:
   eval   (   expression   )

Constraints

expression must designate a string, or be convertable to a string. The contents of the string must be valid PHP source code. If the source code is ill formed, an exception of type ParseError is thrown.

The PHP source code in the string must not be delimited by opening and closing PHP tags. However, the source code itself may contain the tags.

Semantics

This intrinsic evaluates the contents of the string designated by expression, as PHP script code.

Execution of a return statement from within the source code terminates the execution, and the value returned becomes the value returned by eval. If the source code is ill formed, eval returns FALSE; otherwise, eval returns NULL.

The source code is executed in the scope of that from which eval is called.

Examples

$str = "Hello";
eval("echo \$str . \"\\n\";");  // → echo $str . "\n"; → prints Hello

exit/die

Syntax

exit-intrinsic:
   exit
   exit   (   expression_opt   )
   die
   die   (   expression_opt   )

Constraints

When expression designates an integer, its value must be in the range 0–254.

Semantics

exit and die are equivalent.

This intrinsic terminates the current script. If expression designates a string, that string is written to STDOUT. If expression designates an integer, that represents the script’s exit status code. Code 255 is reserved by PHP. Code 0 represents “success”. The exit status code is made available to the execution environment. If expression is omitted or is a string, the exit status code is zero. exit does not have a resulting value.

exit performs the following operations, in order:

Writes the optional string to STDOUT.
Calls any functions registered via the library function register_shutdown_function in their order of registration.
Invokes destructors for all remaining instances.

Examples

exit ("Closing down");
exit (1);
exit;

isset

Syntax

isset-intrinsic:
   isset   (   variable-list   ,_opt   )

variable-list:
   variable
   variable-list   ,   variable

Semantics

This intrinsic returns TRUE if all the variables designated by variabless are set and their values are not NULL. Otherwise, it returns FALSE.

If this intrinsic is used with an expression that designate a dynamic property, then if the class of that property has an __isset, that method is called. If that method returns TRUE, the value of the property is retrieved (which may call __get if defined) and if it is not NULL, the result is TRUE. Otherwise, the result is FALSE.

Examples

$v = TRUE;
isset($v);     // results in TRUE
$v = NULL;
isset($v);     // results in FALSE
$v1 = TRUE; $v2 = 12.3; $v3 = NULL;
isset($v1, $v2, $v3);  // results in FALSE

Anonymous Function Creation

Syntax

anonymous-function-creation-expression:
   static_opt   function   &_opt   (   parameter-declaration-list_opt   )   anonymous-function-use-clause_opt   return-type_opt   compound-statement

anonymous-function-use-clause:
   use   (   use-variable-name-list   )

use-variable-name-list:
   &_opt   variable-name
   use-variable-name-list   ,   &_opt   variable-name

Semantics

This operator returns an object of type Closure, or a derived type thereof, that encapsulates the anonymous function defined within. An anonymous function is defined like, and behaves like, a named function except that the former has no name and has an optional anonymous-function-use-clause.

An expression that designates an anonymous function is compatible with the pseudo-type callable.

The use-variable-name-list is a list of variables from the enclosing scope, which are to be made available by name to the body of the anonymous function. Each of these may be passed by value or byRef, as needed. The values used for these variables are those at the time the Closure object is created, not when it is used to call the function it encapsulates.

An anonymous function defined inside an instance or static method has its scope set to the class it was defined in. Otherwise, an anonymous function is unscoped.

An anonymous function defined inside an instance method is bound to the object on which that method is called, while an an anonymous function defined inside a static method, or prefixed with the optional static modifier is static, and otherwise an anonymous function is unbound.

Examples

function doit($value, callable $process)
{
  return $process($value);
}
$result = doit(5, function ($p) { return $p * 2; });  // doubles a value
$result = doit(5, function ($p) { return $p * $p; }); // squares a value
// -----------------------------------------
class C
{
  public function compute(array $values)
  {
    $count = 0;
    $callback1 = function () use (&$count) // has C as its scope
    {
      ++$count;
      //...
    };
    //...
    $callback2 = function()   // also has C as its scope
    {
      //...
    };
    //...
  }
  //...
}

The `new` Operator

Syntax

object-creation-expression:
   new   class-type-designator   (   argument-expression-list_opt   )
   new   class-type-designator   (   argument-expression-list   ,_opt   )
   new   class-type-designator
   new   class   (   argument-expression-list_opt   )   class-base-clause_opt   class-interface-clause_opt   {   class-member-declarations_opt   }
   new   class   class-base-clause_opt   class-interface-clause_opt   {   class-member-declarations_opt   }

class-type-designator:
   qualified-name
   new-variable

new-variable:
   simple-variable
   new-variable   [   expression_opt   ]
   new-variable   {   expression   }
   new-variable   ->   member-name
   qualified-name   ::   simple-variable
   relative-scope   ::   simple-variable
   new-variable   ::   simple-variable

Constraints

qualified-name must name a class.

new-variable must be a value of type string that contains the name of a class, or an object.

class-type-designator must not designate an abstract class.

The number of arguments in argument-expression-list must be at least as many as the number of non-optional parameters defined for the class’s constructor.

Semantics

The new class-type-designator forms create an object of the class type specified by class-type-designator. The new class forms create an object of an anonymous class type, a type that has an unspecified name. In all other respects, however, an anonymous class has the same capabilities as a named class type.

If the class-type-designator is a new-variable resulting in a string value, that string is used as the class name. If the expression results in an object, the class of the object is used as the class for the new object. The new-variable has the same semantics as a variable, but the grammar is restricted to exclude calls.

The qualified-name is resolved according to the rules described in scope resolution operator, including support for self, parent and static.

After the object has been created, each instance property is initialized with the values specified in property definition, or the value NULL if no initializer value is provided.

The object is then initialized by calling the class’s constructor passing it the optional argument-expression-list. If the class has no constructor, the constructor that class inherits (if any) is used. The class can also specify no constructor definition, in this case the constructor call is omitted.

The result of a named-type object-creation-expression is an object of the type specified by class-type-designator. The result of an anonymous class object-creation-expression is an object of unspecified type. However, this type will subtype all types provided by class-base-clause and class-interface-clause and the class-members definition should follow the same inheritance and implementation rules as the regular class declaration does.

Each distinct source code expression of the form new class results in the class type that is different from that of all other anonymous class types. However, multiple evaluations of the same source code expression of the form new class result in instances of the same class type.

Because a constructor call is a function call, the relevant parts of function call operator section also apply.

Examples

class Point
{
  public function __construct($x = 0, $y = 0)
  {
    ...
  }
  ...
}
$p1 = new Point;     // create Point(0, 0)
$p1 = new Point(12);   // create Point(12, 0)
$cName = 'Point';
$p1 = new $cName(-1, 1); // create Point(-1, 1)
// -----------------------------------------
$v2 = new class (100) extends C1 implements I1, I2 {
	public function __construct($p) {
	    echo "Inside class " . __CLASS__ . " constructor with parameter $p\n";
	}
};

Array Creation Operator

Syntax

array-creation-expression:
   array   (   array-initializer_opt   )
   [   array-initializer_opt   ]

array-initializer:
   array-initializer-list   ,_opt

array-initializer-list:
   array-element-initializer
   array-element-initializer   ,   array-initializer-list

array-element-initializer:
   &_opt   element-value
   element-key   =>   &_opt   element-value

element-key:
   expression

element-value:
   expression

Constraints

If array-element-initializer contains &, expression in element-value must designate a variable.

Semantics

If array-initializer is omitted, the array has zero elements. For convenience, an array-initializer may have a trailing comma; however, this comma is ignored. An array-initializer-list consists of a comma-separated list of one or more array-element-initializer items, each of which is used to provide an element-value and an optional element-key.

If the type of element-key is neither int nor string, keys with float or bool values, or strings whose contents match exactly the pattern of decimal-literal, are converted to integer, and keys of all other types are converted to string.

If element-key is omitted from an array-element-initializer, an element key of type int is associated with the corresponding element-value. The key associated is one more than the largest previously assigned non-negative int key for this array, regardless of whether that key was provided explicitly or by default. If the array has no non-negative int keys, the key 0 is used. If the largest previously assigned int key is the largest integer value that can be represented, the new element is not added.

Once the element keys have been converted to int or string, and omitted element keys have each been associated by default, if two or more array-element-initializer elements in an array-initializer contain the same key, the lexically right-most one is the one whose element-value is used to initialize that element.

The result of this operator is the newly created array value.

If array-element-initializer contains &, element-value’s value is stored using byRef assignment.

Examples

$v = [];      // array has 0 elements, i.e. empty array
$v = array(TRUE);   // array has 1 element, the Boolean TRUE
$v = [123, -56];  // array of two ints, with implicit int keys 0 and 1
$v = [0 => 123, 1 => -56]; // array of two ints, with explicit int keys 0 and 1
$i = 10;
$v = [$i - 10 => 123, $i - 9 => -56]; // key can be a runtime expression
$v = [NULL, 1 => FALSE, 123, 3 => 34e12, "Hello"];  // implicit & explicit keys
$i = 6; $j = 12;
$v = [7 => 123, 3 => $i, 6 => ++$j];  // keys are in arbitrary order
$v[4] = 99;   // extends array with a new element
$v = [2 => 23, 1 => 10, 2 => 46, 1.9 => 6];
     // array has 2, with keys 2 and 1, values 46 and 6, respectively
$v = ["red" => 10, "4" => 3, 9.2 => 5, "12.8" => 111, NULL => 1];
     // array has 5 elements, with keys “red”, 4, 9, “12.8”, and “”.
$c = array("red", "white", "blue");
$v = array(10, $c, NULL, array(FALSE, NULL, $c));
$v = array(2 => TRUE, 0 => 123, 1 => 34.5, -1 => "red");
foreach($v as $e) { /* ... */ } // iterates over keys 2, 0, 1, -1
for ($i = -1; $i <= 2; ++$i) { echo $v[$i]; } // retrieves via keys -1, 0, 1, 2

Subscript Operator

Syntax

subscript-expression:
   dereferencable-expression   [   expression_opt   ]
   dereferencable-expression   {   expression   }   <b>[Deprecated form]</b>

Constraints

If dereferencable-expression designates a string, expression must not designate a string.

expression can be omitted only if subscript-expression is used in a modifiable-lvalue context and dereferencable-expression does not designate a string. Exception from this is when dereferencable-expression is an empty string - then it is converted to an empty array.

If subscript-expression is used in a non-lvalue context, the element being designated must exist.

Semantics

A subscript-expression designates a (possibly non-existent) element of an array or string. When subscript-expression designates an object of a type that implements ArrayAccess, the minimal semantics are defined below; however, they can be augmented by that object’s methods offsetGet and offsetSet.

The element key is designated by expression. If the type of element-key is neither int nor string, keys with float or bool values, or strings whose contents match exactly the pattern of decimal-literal, are converted to integer, and key values of all other types are converted to string.

If both dereferencable-expression and expression designate strings, expression is treated as if it specified the int key zero instead and a non-fatal error is produces.

A subscript-expression designates a modifiable lvalue if and only if dereferencable-expression designates a modifiable lvalue.

dereferencable-expression designates an array

If expression is present, if the designated element exists, the type and value of the result is the type and value of that element; otherwise, the result is NULL.

If expression is omitted, a new element is inserted. Its key has type int and is one more than the highest, previously assigned int key for this array. If this is the first element with an int key, key 0 is used. If the largest previously assigned int key is the largest integer value that can be represented, the new element is not added. The result is the added new element, or NULL if the element was not added.

If the usage context is as the left-hand side of a simple-assignment-expression, the value of the new element is the value of the right-hand side of that simple-assignment-expression.
If the usage context is as the left-hand side of a compound-assignment-expression: the expression e1 op= e2 is evaluated as e1 = NULL op (e2).
If the usage context is as the operand of a postfix- or prefix-increment or decrement operator, the value of the new element is considered to be NULL.

dereferencable-expression designates a string

The expression is converted to int and the result is the character of the string at the position corresponding to that integer. If the integer is negative, the position is counted backwards from the end of the string. If the position refers to a non-existing offset, the result is an empty string.

If the operator is used as the left-hand side of a simple-assignment-expression,

If the assigned string is empty, or in case of non-existing negative offset (absolute value larger than string length), a warning is raised and no assignment is performed.
If the offset is larger than the current string length, the string is extended to a length equal to the offset value, using space (0x20) padding characters.
The value being assigned is converted to string and the character in the specified offset is replaced by the first character of the string.

The subscript operator can not be used on a string value in a byRef context or as the operand of the postfix- or prefix-increment or decrement operators or on the left side of compound-assignment-expression, doing so will result in a fatal error.

dereferencable-expression designates an object of a type that implements ArrayAccess

If expression is present,

If subscript-expression is used in a non-lvalue context, the object’s method offsetGet is called with an argument of expression. The return value of the offsetGet is the result.
If the usage context is as the left-hand side of a simple-assignment-expression, the object’s method offsetSet is called with a first argument of expression and a second argument that is the value of the right-hand side of that simple-assignment-expression. The value of the right-hand side is the result.
If the usage context is as the left-hand side of a compound-assignment-expression, the expression e1[e] op= e2 is evaluated as e1[e] = e1->offsetGet(e) op (e2), which is then processed according to the rules for simple assignment immediately above.
If the usage context is as the operand of the postfix- or prefix-increment or decrement operators, the object’s method offsetGet is called with an argument of expression. However, this method has no way of knowing if an increment or decrement operator was used, or whether it was a prefix or postfix operator. In order for the value to be modified by the increment/decrement, offsetGet must return byRef. The result of the subscript operator value returned by offsetGet.

If expression is omitted,

If the usage context is as the left-hand side of a simple-assignment-expression, the object’s method offsetSet is called with a first argument of NULL and a second argument that is the value of the right-hand side of that simple-assignment-expression. The type and value of the result is the type and value of the right-hand side of that simple-assignment-expression.
If the usage context is as the left-hand side of a compound-assignment-expression: The expression e1[] op= e2 is evaluated as e1[] = e1->offsetGet(NULL) op (e2), which is then processed according to the rules for simple assignment immediately above.
If the usage context is as the operand of the postfix- or prefix-increment or decrement operators, the object’s method offsetGet is called with an argument of NULL. However, this method has no way of knowing if an increment or decrement operator was used, or whether it was a prefix or postfix operator. In order for the value to be modified by the increment/decrement, offsetGet must return byRef. The result of the subscript operator value returned by offsetGet.

Note: The brace ({...}) form of this operator has been deprecated.

Examples

$v = array(10, 20, 30);
$v[1] = 1.234;    // change the value (and type) of element [1]
$v[-10] = 19;   // insert a new element with int key -10
$v["red"] = TRUE; // insert a new element with string key "red"
[[2,4,6,8], [5,10], [100,200,300]][0][2]  // designates element with value 6
["black", "white", "yellow"][1][2]  // designates substring "i" in "white"
function f() { return [1000, 2000, 3000]; }
f()[2];      // designates element with value 3000
"red"[1.9];    // designates "e"
"red"[-2];    // designates "e"
"red"[0][0][0];    // designates "r"
// -----------------------------------------
class MyVector implements ArrayAccess { /* ... */ }
$vect1 = new MyVector(array(10, 'A' => 2.3, "up"));
$vect1[10] = 987; // calls Vector::offsetSet(10, 987)
$vect1[] = "xxx"; // calls Vector::offsetSet(NULL, "xxx")
$x = $vect1[1];   // calls Vector::offsetGet(1)

Function Call Operator

Syntax

function-call-expression:
   qualified-name   (   argument-expression-list_opt   )
   qualified-name   (   argument-expression-list   ,   )
   callable-expression   (   argument-expression-list_opt   )
   callable-expression   (   argument-expression-list   ,   )

argument-expression-list:
   argument-expression
   argument-expression-list   ,   argument-expression

argument-expression:
   variadic-unpacking
   expression

variadic-unpacking:
   ...   expression

Constraints

callable-expression must designate a function, by being a value of type string that contains the function’s name, or by being an object of a type that implements __invoke method (including Closure objects).

The number of arguments present in a function call must be at least as many as the number of non-optional parameters defined for that function.

No calls can be made to a conditionally defined function until that function exists.

Any argument that matches a parameter passed byRef should (but need not) designate an lvalue.

If variadic-unpacking is used, the result of the expression must be an array or Traversable. If incompatible value is supplied, the argument is ignored and a non-fatal error is issued.

Semantics

An expression of the form function-call-expression is a function call. The expression designates the called function, and argument-expression-list specifies the arguments to be passed to that function. An argument can be any value. In a function call, callable-expression is evaluated first, followed by each expression in the order left-to-right. There is a sequence point after each argument is evaluated and right before the function is called. For details of the result of a function call see return statement. The value of a function call is a modifiable lvalue only if the function returns a modifiable value byRef.

When a function is called, the value of each argument passed to it is assigned to the corresponding parameter in that function’s definition, if such a parameter exists. The assignment of argument values to parameters is defined in terms of simple or byRef assignment, depending on how the parameter was declared. There may be more arguments than parameters, in which case, the library functions func_num_args, func_get_arg and func_get_args can be used to get access to the complete argument list that was passed. If the number of arguments present in a function call is fewer than the number of parameters defined for that function, any parameter not having a corresponding argument is considered undefined if it has no default argument value; otherwise, it is considered defined with that default argument value.

If an undefined variable is passed using byRef, that variable becomes defined, with an initial value of NULL.

Direct and indirect recursive function calls are permitted.

If callable-expression is a string, this is a variable function call.

If variadic-unpacking operation is used, the operand is considered to be a parameter list. The values contained in the operand are fetched one by one (in the same manner as foreach would do) and used for next arguments of for the call. The keys for in the iteration are ignored.

Multiple unpacking operations can be used in the same function call, and unpacking and regular parameters can be mixed in any order.

Examples

function square($v) { return $v * $v; }
square(5);     // call square directly; it returns 25
$funct = square;  // assigns the string "square" to $funct
$funct(-2.3)    // call square indirectly; it returns 5.29
strlen($lastName); // returns the # of bytes in the string
// -----------------------------------------
function f1() { ... }  function f2() { ... }  function f3() { ... }
for ($i = 1; $i <= 2; ++$i) { $f = 'f' . $i;  $f(); }
// -----------------------------------------
function f($p1, $p2, $p3, $p4, $p5) { ... }
function g($p1, $p2, $p3, $p4, $p5) { ... }
function h($p1, $p2, $p3, $p4, $p5) { ... }
$funcTable = array(f, g, h);  // list of 3 function designators
$i = 1;
$funcTable[$i++]($i, ++$i, $i, $i = 12, --$i); // calls g(2,3,3,12,11)
// -----------------------------------------
function f4($p1, $p2 = 1.23, $p3 = "abc") { ... }
f4(); // inside f4, $p1 is undefined, $p2 is 1.23, $p3 is "abc"
// -----------------------------------------
function f(&$p) { ... }
$a = array(10, 20, 30);
f($a[5]); // non-existent element going in, but element exists afterwards
// -----------------------------------------
function factorial($int)  // contains a recursive call
{
  return ($int > 1) ? $int * factorial($int - 1) : $int;
}
// -----------------------------------------
$anon = function () { ... };  // store a Closure in $anon
$anon();  // call the anonymous function encapsulated by that object

Member Access Operator

Syntax

member-access-expression:
   dereferencable-expression   ->   member-name

member-name:
   name
   simple-variable
   {   expression   }

Constraints

The dereferencable-expression must designate an object or be NULL, FALSE, or an empty string.

expression must be a value of type string (but not a string literal) that contains the name of an instance property (without the leading $) or an instance or static method of that instance’s class type.

Semantics

A member-access-expression designates an instance property of the object designated by dereferencable-expression with the name given by the string representation of member-name. The value is that of the property, and is a modifiable lvalue if dereferencable-expression is a modifiable lvalue.

When the -> operator is used in a modifiable lvalue context and member-name designate a property that is not visible, the property is treated as a dynamic property. If dereferencable-expression’s class type defines a __set method, it is called to store the property’s value. When the -> operator is used in a non-lvalue context and member-name designate a property that is not visible, the property is treated as a dynamic property. If dereferencable-expression’s class type defines a __get method, it is called to retrieve the property’s value.

If dereferencable-expression is NULL, FALSE, or an empty string, an expression of the form $p->x = 10 causes an instance of stdClass to be created with a dynamic property x having a value of 10. $p is then made to refer to this instance.

Examples

class Point
{
  private $x;
  private $y;
  public function move($x, $y)
  {
    $this->x = $x;  // sets private property $x
    $this->y = $y;  // sets private property $x
  }
  public function __toString()
  {
    return '(' . $this->x . ',' . $this->y . ')';
  }
  // get private properties $x and $y
  public function __set($name, $value) { ... }
  public function __get($name) { ... }
}
$p1 = new Point;
$p1->move(3, 9);  // calls public instance method move by name
$n = "move";
$p1->$n(-2, 4);   // calls public instance method move by variable
$p1->color = "red"; // turned into $p1->__set("color", "red");
$c = $p1->color;  // turned into $c = $p1->__get("color");

Member Call Operator

Syntax

member-call-expression:
   dereferencable-expression   ->   member-name   (   argument-expression-list_opt   )
   dereferencable-expression   ->   member-name   (   argument-expression-list   ,   )

Constraints

The dereferencable-expression must designate an object.

Additionally the general function call constraints apply.

Semantics

A member-call-expression calls an instance or static method of the object designated by dereferencable-expression, with the method name given by the string representation of member-name and the arguments given by argument-expression-list. The value of dereferencable-expression is used as the value of $this in the invoked method.

The general function call semantics apply.

If the called method does not exist or is not visible from the current scope an exception is thrown, unless a __call method exists, in which case it will be called instead.

Examples

See member access examples.

Postfix Increment and Decrement Operators

Syntax

postfix-increment-expression:
   variable   ++

postfix-decrement-expression:
   variable   --

Constraints

The operand of the postfix ++ and – operators must be a modifiable lvalue that has scalar-compatible type.

Semantics

These operators behave like their prefix counterparts except that the value of a postfix ++ or – expression is the value before any increment or decrement takes place.

Examples

$i = 10; $j = $i-- + 100;   // old value of $i (10) is added to 100
$a = array(100, 200); $v = $a[1]++; // old value of $ia[1] (200) is assigned

Prefix Increment and Decrement Operators

Syntax

prefix-increment-expression:
   ++   variable

prefix-decrement-expression:
   --   variable

Constraints

The operand of the prefix ++ or -- operator must be a modifiable lvalue that has scalar-compatible type.

Semantics

Arithmetic Operands

For a prefix ++ operator used with an arithmetic operand, the side effect of the operator is to increment the value of the operand by 1. The result is the value of the operand after it has been incremented. If an int operand’s value is the largest representable for that type, the operand is incremented as if it were float.

For a prefix -- operator used with an arithmetic operand, the side effect of the operator is to decrement the value of the operand by 1. The result is the value of the operand after it has been decremented. If an int operand’s value is the smallest representable for that type, the operand is decremented as if it were float.

For a prefix ++ or -- operator used with an operand having the value INF, -INF, or NAN, there is no side effect, and the result is the operand’s value.

Boolean Operands

For a prefix ++ or -- operator used with a Boolean-valued operand, there is no side effect, and the result is the operand’s value.

NULL-valued Operands

For a prefix – operator used with a NULL-valued operand, there is no side effect, and the result is the operand’s value. For a prefix ++ operator used with a NULL-valued operand, the side effect is that the operand’s type is changed to int, the operand’s value is set to zero, and that value is incremented by 1. The result is the value of the operand after it has been incremented.

String Operands

For a prefix -- operator used with an operand whose value is an empty string, the side effect is that the operand’s type is changed to int, the operand’s value is set to zero, and that value is decremented by 1. The result is the value of the operand after it has been incremented.

For a prefix ++ operator used with an operand whose value is an empty string, the side effect is that the operand’s value is changed to the string “1”. The type of the operand is unchanged. The result is the new value of the operand.

For a prefix -- or ++ operator used with a numeric string, the numeric string is treated as the corresponding int or float value.

For a prefix -- operator used with a non-numeric string-valued operand, there is no side effect, and the result is the operand’s value.

For a non-numeric string-valued operand that contains only alphanumeric characters, for a prefix ++ operator, the operand is considered to be a representation of a base-36 number (i.e., with digits 0–9 followed by A–Z or a–z) in which letter case is ignored for value purposes. The right-most digit is incremented by 1. For the digits 0–8, that means going to 1–9. For the letters “A”–“Y” (or “a”–“y”), that means going to “B”–“Z” (or “b”–“z”). For the digit 9, the digit becomes 0, and the carry is added to the next left-most digit, and so on. For the digit “Z” (or “z”), the resulting string has an extra digit “A” (or “a”) appended. For example, when incrementing, “a” -> “b”, “Z” -> “AA”, “AA” -> “AB”, “F29” -> “F30”, “FZ9” -> “GA0”, and “ZZ9” -> “AAA0”. A digit position containing a number wraps modulo-10, while a digit position containing a letter wraps modulo-26.

For a non-numeric string-valued operand that contains any non-alphanumeric characters, for a prefix ++ operator, all characters up to and including the right-most non-alphanumeric character is passed through to the resulting string, unchanged. Characters to the right of that right-most non-alphanumeric character are treated like a non-numeric string-valued operand that contains only alphanumeric characters, except that the resulting string will not be extended. Instead, a digit position containing a number wraps modulo-10, while a digit position containing a letter wraps modulo-26.

Object Operands

If the operand has an object type supporting the operation, then the object semantics defines the result. Otherwise, the operation has no effect and the result is the operand.

Examples

$i = 10; $j = --$i + 100;   // new value of $i (9) is added to 100
$a = array(100, 200); $v = ++$a[1]; // new value of $a[1] (201) is assigned
$a = "^^Z"; ++$a; // $a is now "^^A"
$a = "^^Z^^"; ++$a; // $a is now "^^Z^^"

Shell Command Operator

Syntax

shell-command-expression:
   `   dq-char-sequence_opt   `

where ` is the GRAVE ACCENT character 0x60, commonly referred to as a backtick.

Semantics

This operator passes dq-char-sequence to the command shell for execution, as though it was being passed to the library function shell_exec. If the output from execution of that command is written to STDOUT, that output is the result of this operator as a string. If the output is redirected away from STDOUT, or dq-char-sequence is empty or contains only white space, the result of the operator is NULL.

If shell_exec is disabled, this operator is disabled.

Examples

$result = `ls`;           // result is the output of command ls
$result = `ls >dirlist.txt`;  // result is NULL
$d = "dir"; $f = "*.*";
$result = `$d {$f}`;      // result is the output of command dir *.*

Scope-Resolution Operator

Syntax

scoped-property-access-expression:
   scope-resolution-qualifier   ::   simple-variable

scoped-call-expression:
   scope-resolution-qualifier   ::   member-name   (   argument-expression-list_opt   )
   scope-resolution-qualifier   ::   member-name   (   argument-expression-list   ,   )

class-constant-access-expression:
   scope-resolution-qualifier   ::   name

scope-resolution-qualifier:
   relative-scope
   qualified-name
   dereferencable-expression

relative-scope:
   self
   parent
   static

Constraints

qualified-name must be the name of a class or interface type.

dereferencable-expression must be a value of type string, which contains the name of a class or interface type, or an object.

Semantics

From inside or outside a class or interface, operator :: allows the selection of a constant. From inside or outside a class, this operator allows the selection of a static property, static method, or instance method. From within a class, it also allows the selection of an overridden property or method.

If the scoped-property-access-expression form is used, this operator is accessing a static property given by simple-variable and can be used as an lvalue.

If the class-constant-access-expression form is used, this operator is is accessing a class constant given by name. This form can not be used as an lvalue.

If the scoped-call-expression form is used, the operator is calling the method given by member-anem, which, outside of the object context, is treated as static method call.

Inside of the object context when $this is defined and the called method is not static and the called class is the same as a parent of the class of $this, then the method call is non-static with the same $this. Otherwise it is a static method call.

relative-scope designates the class with relation to the current class scope. From within a class, self refers to the same class, parent refers to the class the current class extends from. From within a method, static refers to the class corresponds to the class inheritance context in which the method is called. This allows late static binding, when class resolution depends on the dynamic call context.

class Base
{
  public function b()
  {
    static::f();  // calls the most appropriate f()
  }
  public function f() { ... }
}
class Derived extends Base
{
  public function f() { ... }
}
$b1 = new Base;
$b1->b(); // as $b1 is an instance of Base, Base::b() calls Base::f()
$d1 = new Derived;
$d1->b(); // as $d1 is an instance of Derived, Base::b() calls Derived::f()

The value of the form of scope-resolution-expression ending in ::class is a string containing the fully qualified name of the current class, which for a static qualifier, means the current class context.

Examples

final class MathLibrary
{
  public static function sin() { ... }
  ...
}
$v = MathLibrary::sin(2.34);  // call directly by class name
$clName = 'MathLibrary';
$v = $clName::sin(2.34);    // call indirectly via string
// -----------------------------------------
class MyRangeException extends Exception
{
  public function __construct($message, ...)
  {
    parent::__construct($message);
    ...
  }
  ...
}
// -----------------------------------------
class Point
{
  private static $pointCount = 0;
  public static function getPointCount()
  {
    return self::$pointCount;
  }
  ...
}

The `clone` Operator

Syntax

clone-expression:
   primary-expression
   clone   primary-expression

Constraints

primary-expression must designate an object.

Semantics

The clone operator creates a new object that is a shallow copy of the object designated by primary-expression. Then, if the class type of primary-expression has a method called __clone, it is called to perform a deep copy. The result is the new object.

Examples

Consider a class Employee, from which is derived a class Manager. Let us assume that both classes contain properties that are objects. clone is used to make a copy of a Manager object, and behind the scenes, the Manager object uses clone to copy the properties for the base class, Employee.

class Employee
{
  //...
  public function __clone()
  {
    // make a deep copy of Employee object
  }
}
class Manager extends Employee
{
  //...
  public function __clone()
  {
    $v = parent::__clone();
    // make a deep copy of Manager object

  }
}
$obj1 = new Manager("Smith", 23);
$obj2 = clone $obj1;  // creates a new Manager that is a deep copy

Exponentiation Operator

Syntax

exponentiation-expression:
   clone-expression
   clone-expression   **   exponentiation-expression

Semantics

The ** operator produces the result of raising the value of the left-hand operand to the power of the right-hand one.

If either of the operands have an object type supporting ** operation, then the object semantics defines the result. The left operand is checked first.

If either or both operands have non-numeric types, their values are converted to type int or float, as appropriate. If both operands have non-negative integer values and the result can be represented as an int, the result has type int; otherwise, the result has type float. If either or both operands were leading-numeric or non-numeric strings, a non-fatal error must be produced for each.

Examples

2**3;   // int with value 8
2**3.0;   // float with value 8.0
"2.0"**"3"; // float with value 8.0

Unary Operators

General

Syntax

unary-expression:
   exponentiation-expression
   unary-op-expression
   error-control-expression
   cast-expression

Semantics

These operators associate right-to-left.

Unary Arithmetic Operators

Syntax

unary-op-expression:
   unary-operator   unary-expression

unary-operator: one of
   +   -   ~

Constraints

The operand of the unary + and unary - must have scalar-compatible type.

The operand of the unary ~ operator must have arithmetic or string type, or be an object supporting ~.

Semantics

Arithmetic Operands

For a unary + operator used with an arithmetic operand, the type and value of the result is the type and value of the operand.

For a unary - operator used with an arithmetic operand, the value of the result is the negated value of the operand. However, if an int operand’s original value is the smallest representable for that type, the operand is treated as if it were float and the result will be float.

For a unary ~ operator used with an int operand, the type of the result is int. The value of the result is the bitwise complement of the value of the operand (that is, each bit in the result is set if and only if the corresponding bit in the operand is clear). For a unary ~ operator used with a float operand, the value of the operand is first converted to int before the bitwise complement is computed.

Boolean Operands

For a unary + operator used with a TRUE-valued operand, the value of the result is 1 and the type is int. When used with a FALSE-valued operand, the value of the result is zero and the type is int.

For a unary - operator used with a TRUE-valued operand, the value of the result is -1 and the type is int. When used with a FALSE-valued operand, the value of the result is zero and the type is int.

NULL-valued Operands

For a unary + or unary - operator used with a NULL-valued operand, the value of the result is zero and the type is int.

String Operands

For a unary + or - operator used with a numeric string or a leading-numeric string, the string is first converted to an int or float, as appropriate, after which it is handled as an arithmetic operand. The trailing non-numeric characters in leading-numeric strings are ignored. With a non-numeric string, the result has type int and value 0. If the string was leading-numeric or non-numeric, a non-fatal error MUST be produced.

For a unary ~ operator used with a string, the result is the string with each byte being bitwise complement of the corresponding byte of the source string.

Object Operands

If the operand has an object type supporting the operation, then the object semantics defines the result. Otherwise, for ~ the fatal error is issued and for + and - the object is converted to int.

Examples

$v = +10;
if ($v1 > -5) // ...
$v = ~0b1010101;
$s = "\x86\x97"; $s = ~$s; // $s is "yh"

Error Control Operator

Syntax

error-control-expression:
   @   unary-expression

Semantics

Operator @ suppresses the reporting of any error messages generated by the evaluation of unary-expression.

If a custom error-handler has been established using the library function set_error_handler, that handler is still called.

Examples

$infile = @fopen("NoSuchFile.txt", 'r');

On open failure, the value returned by fopen is FALSE, which is sufficient to know to handle the error. The error message that may have been generated by the fopen call is suppressed (not displayed and not logged).

Implementation Notes

Given the following example:

function f() {
  $ret = $y;
  return $ret;
}

$x = @f();  // without @, get "Undefined variable: y"

The following code shows how this statement is handled:

$origER = error_reporting();
error_reporting(0);
$tmp = f();
$curER = error_reporting();
if ($curER === 0) error_reporting($origER);
$x = $tmp;

Cast Operator

Syntax

cast-expression:
   (   cast-type   )   unary-expression

cast-type: one of
   array   binary   bool   boolean   double   int   integer   float   object
   real   string   unset

Constaints

A cast-type of unset is no longer supported and results in a compile-time error.

Semantics

With the exception of the cast-type unset and binary (see below), the value of the operand cast-expression is converted to the type specified by cast-type, and that is the type and value of the result. This construct is referred to as a cast and is used as the verb, “to cast”. If no conversion is involved, the type and value of the result are the same as those of cast-expression.

A cast can result in a loss of information.

A cast-type of array results in a conversion to type array.

A cast-type of binary is reserved for future use in dealing with so-called binary strings. For now, it is fully equivalent to string cast.

A cast-type of bool or boolean results in a conversion to type bool.

A cast-type of int or integer results in a conversion to type int.

A cast-type of float, double, or real results in a conversion to type float.

A cast-type of object results in a conversion to type object.

A cast-type of string results in a conversion to type string.

Examples

(int)(10/3)          // results in the int 3 rather than the float 3.333...
(array)(16.5)      // results in an array of 1 float; [0] = 16.5
(int)(float)"123.87E3" // results in the int 123870

`instanceof` Operator

Syntax

instanceof-expression:
   unary-expression
   instanceof-subject   instanceof   class-type-designator

instanceof-subject:
   instanceof-expression

Semantics

Operator instanceof returns TRUE if the value designated by instanceof-subject is an object having the type specified by class-type-designator, is an object whose type is derived from that type, or is an object whose type implements the interface specified by class-type-designator. Otherwise, it returns FALSE.

The type can be specified by class-type-designator in one of the three forms:

qualified-name specifies the type name directly.
When the new-variable form is used, new-variable may have a string value that contains a class or interface name.
Alternatively, new-variable can designate an object, in which case the type of the object is used as the specified type. Note that an interface can not be specified with this form.

Note that instanceof will not invoke autoloader if the name of the type given does not correspond to the existing class or interface, instead it will return FALSE.

Examples

class C1 {  }
$c1 = new C1;
class C2 {  }
$c2 = new C2;
class D extends C1 { };
$d = new D;
var_dump($d instanceof C1);      // TRUE
var_dump($d instanceof C2);      // FALSE
var_dump($d instanceof D);       // TRUE
// -----------------------------------------
interface I1 { }
interface I2 { }
class E1 implements I1, I2 { }
$e1 = new E1;
var_dump($e1 instanceof I1);       // TRUE
$iName = "I2";
var_dump($e1 instanceof $iName);   // TRUE
$e2 = new E1;
var_dump($e2 instanceof $e1);      // TRUE

Logical NOT Operator

logical-NOT-expression:
   instanceof-expression
   !   instanceof-expression

Semantics

The value of the operand is converted to type bool and if it is TRUE then the result of the operator is FALSE. The result is TRUE otherwise.

Examples

$t = TRUE;
if (!$t) // ...

Multiplicative Operators

Syntax

multiplicative-expression:
   logical-NOT-expression
   multiplicative-expression   *   logical-NOT-expression
   multiplicative-expression   /   logical-NOT-expression
   multiplicative-expression   %   logical-NOT-expression

Constraints

The right-hand operand of operator / and operator % must not be zero.

Semantics

If either of the operands is an object supporting the operation, the result is defined by that object’s semantics, with the left operand checked first.

The binary * operator produces the product of its operands. If either or both operands have non-numeric types, their values are converted to type int or float, as appropriate. If either or both operands were leading-numeric or non-numeric strings, a non-fatal error MUST be produced for each. Then if either operand has type float, the other is converted to that type, and the result has type float. Otherwise, both operands have type int, in which case, if the resulting value can be represented in type int that is the result type. Otherwise, the result would have type float.

Division by zero results in a non-fatal error. If the value of the numerator is positive, the result value is INF. If the value of the numerator is negative, the result value is -INF. If the value of the numerator is zero, the result value is NAN.

The binary / operator produces the quotient from dividing the left-hand operand by the right-hand one. If either or both operands have non-numeric types, their values are converted to type int or float, as appropriate. If either or both operands were leading-numeric or non-numeric strings, a non-fatal error must be produced for each. Then if either operand has type float, the other is converted to that type, and the result has type float. Otherwise, both operands have type int, in which case, if the mathematical value of the computation can be preserved using type int, that is the result type; otherwise, the type of the result is float.

The binary % operator produces the remainder from dividing the left-hand operand by the right-hand one. If the type of both operands is not int, their values are converted to that type. If either or both operands were leading-numeric or non-numeric strings, a non-fatal error MUST be produced for each. The result has type int. If the right-hand operand has value zero, an exception of type DivisionByZeroError is thrown.

These operators associate left-to-right.

Examples

-10 * 100;       // int with value -1000
100 * -3.4e10;   // float with value -3400000000000
"123" * "2e+5;   // float with value 24600000
100 / 100;       // int with value 1
100  / "123";    // float with value 0.8130081300813
"123" % 100;     // int with value 23
100 / 0;         // results in a diagnostic followed by bool with value false
100 / 0.0;       // results in a diagnostic followed by bool with value false
1.3 / 0;         // results in a diagnostic followed by bool with value false
1.3 / 0.0;       // results in a diagnostic followed by bool with value false
100 / "a";       // results in a diagnostic followed by bool with value false (a is converted to 0)

Additive Operators

Syntax

additive-expression:
   multiplicative-expression
   additive-expression   +   multiplicative-expression
   additive-expression   -   multiplicative-expression
   additive-expression   .   multiplicative-expression

Constraints

If either operand of + has array type, the other operand must also have array type.

Binary - operator can not be applied to arrays.

Semantics

If either of the operands is an object supporting the operation, the result is defined by that object’s semantics, with the left operand checked first.

For non-array operands, the binary + operator produces the sum of those operands, while the binary - operator produces the difference of its operands when subtracting the right-hand operand from the left-hand one. If either or both operands have non-array, non-numeric types, their values are converted to type int or float, as appropriate. If either or both operands were leading-numeric or non-numeric strings, a non-fatal error MUST be produced for each. Then if either operand has type float, the other is converted to that type, and the result has type float. Otherwise, both operands have type int, in which case, if the resulting value can be represented in type int that is the result type. Otherwise, the result would have type float.

If both operands have array type, the binary + operator produces a new array that is the union of the two operands. The result is a copy of the left-hand array with elements inserted at its end, in order, for each element in the right-hand array whose key does not already exist in the left-hand array. Any element in the right-hand array whose key exists in the left-hand array is ignored.

The binary . operator creates a string that is the concatenation of the left-hand operand and the right-hand operand, in that order. If either or both operands have types other than string, their values are converted to type string. The result has type string.

These operators associate left-to-right.

Examples

-10 + 100;        // int with value 90
100 + -3.4e10;    // float with value -33999999900
"123" + "2e+5";   // float with value 200123
100 - "123";      // int with value 23
-3.4e10 - "abc";  // float with value -34000000000
// -----------------------------------------
[1, 5 => FALSE, "red"] + [4 => -5, 1.23]; // [1, 5 => FALSE, "red", 4 => -5]
  // dupe key 5 (value 1.23) is ignored
[NULL] + [1, 5 => FALSE, "red"];          // [NULL, 5 => FALSE, "red"]
  // dupe key 0 (value 1) is ignored
[4 => -5, 1.23] + [NULL];                 // [4 => -5, 1.23, 0 => NULL]
// -----------------------------------------
-10 . NAN;        // string with value "-10NAN"
INF . "2e+5";     // string with value "INF2e+5"
TRUE . NULL;      // string with value "1"
10 + 5 . 12 . 100 - 50;  // int with value 1512050; ((((10 + 5).12).100)-50)

Bitwise Shift Operators

Syntax

shift-expression:
   additive-expression
   shift-expression   <<   additive-expression
   shift-expression   >>   additive-expression

Constraints

Each of the operands must have scalar-compatible type.

Semantics

If either of the operands is an object supporting the operation, the result is defined by that object’s semantics, with the left operand checked first.

Given the expression e1 << e2, the bits in the value of e1 are shifted left by e2 positions. Bits shifted off the left end are discarded, and zero bits are shifted on from the right end. Given the expression e1 >> e2, the bits in the value of e1 are shifted right by e2 positions. Bits shifted off the right end are discarded, and the sign bit is propagated from the left end.

If either operand does not have type int, its value is first converted to that type. If either or both operands were leading-numeric or non-numeric strings, a non-fatal error MUST be produced for each.

The type of the result is int, and the value of the result is that after the shifting is complete. The values of e1 and e2 are unchanged.

Left shifts where the shift count is greater than the bit width of the integer type (e.g. 32 or 64) must always result in 0, even if there is no native processor support for this.

Right shifts where the shift count is greater than the bit width of the integer type (e.g. 32 or 64) must always result in 0 when e1 is positive and -1 when e1 is negative, even if there is no native processor support for this.

If the shift count is negative, an exception of type ArithmeticError is thrown.

These operators associate left-to-right.

Examples

1000 >> 2   // 0x3E8 is shifted right 2 places
-1000 << 2  // 0xFFFFFC18 is shifted left 5 places
123 >> 128  // Shift count larger than bit width => result 0
123 << 33   // For 32-bit integers the result is zero, otherwise
            // it is 0x7B shifted left 33 places

Relational Operators

Syntax

relational-expression:
   shift-expression
   relational-expression   <   shift-expression
   relational-expression   >   shift-expression
   relational-expression   <=   shift-expression
   relational-expression   >=   shift-expression
   relational-expression   <=>   shift-expression

Semantics

Operator <=> represents comparison operator between two expressions, with the result being an integer less than 0 if the expression on the left is less than the expression on the right (i.e. if $a < $b would return TRUE), as defined below by the semantics of the operator <, integer 0 if those expressions are equal (as defined by the semantics of the == operator) and integer greater than 0 otherwise.

Operator < represents less-than, operator > represents greater-than, operator <= represents less-than-or-equal-to, and operator >= represents greater-than-or-equal-to.

The type of the result is bool.

Note that greater-than semantics is implemented as the reverse of less-than, i.e. $a > $b is the same as $b < $a. This may lead to confusing results if the operands are not well-ordered - such as comparing two objects not having comparison semantics, or comparing arrays.

The following table shows the result for comparison of different types, with the left operand displayed vertically and the right displayed horizontally. The conversions are performed according to type conversion rules.

	NULL	bool	int	float	string	array	object	resource
NULL	=	->	->	->	->	->	<	<
bool	<-	1	<-	<-	<-	<-	<-	<-
int	<-	->	2	2	<-	<	3	<-
float	<-	->	2	2	<-	<	3	<-
string	<-	->	->	->	2, 4	<	3	2
array	<-	->	>	>	>	5	3	>
object	>	->	3	3	3	3	6	3
resource	>	->	->	->	2	<	3	2

= means the result is always “equals”, i.e. strict comparisons are always FALSE and equality comparisons are always TRUE.
< means that the left operand is always less than the right operand.
> means that the left operand is always greater than the right operand.
-> means that the left operand is converted to the type of the right operand.
<- means that the right operand is converted to the type of the left operand.
A number means one of the cases below:

If either operand has type bool, the other operand is converted to that type. The result is the logical comparison of the two operands after conversion, where FALSE is defined to be less than TRUE.
If one of the operands has arithmetic type, is a resource, or a numeric string, which can be represented as int or float without loss of precision, the operands are converted to the corresponding arithmetic type, with float taking precedence over int, and resources converting to int. The result is the numerical comparison of the two operands after conversion.
If only one operand has object type, if the object has comparison handler, that handler defines the result. Otherwise, if the object can be converted to the other operand’s type, it is converted and the result is used for the comparison. Otherwise, the object compares greater-than any other operand type.
If both operands are non-numeric strings, the result is the lexical comparison of the two operands. Specifically, the strings are compared byte-by-byte starting with their first byte. If the two bytes compare equal and there are no more bytes in either string, the strings are equal and the comparison ends; otherwise, if this is the final byte in one string, the shorter string compares less-than the longer string and the comparison ends. If the two bytes compare unequal, the string having the lower-valued byte compares less-than the other string, and the comparison ends. If there are more bytes in the strings, the process is repeated for the next pair of bytes.
If both operands have array type, if the arrays have different numbers of elements, the one with the fewer is considered less-than the other one, regardless of the keys and values in each, and the comparison ends. For arrays having the same numbers of elements, the keys from the left operand are considered one by one, if the next key in the left-hand operand exists in the right-hand operand, the corresponding values are compared. If they are unequal, the array containing the lesser value is considered less-than the other one, and the comparison ends; otherwise, the process is repeated with the next element. If the next key in the left-hand operand does not exist in the right-hand operand, the arrays cannot be compared and FALSE is returned. If all the values are equal, then the arrays are considered equal.
When comparing two objects, if any of the object types has its own compare semantics, that would define the result, with the left operand taking precedence. Otherwise, if the objects are of different types, the comparison result is FALSE. If the objects are of the same type, the properties of the objects are compares using the array comparison described above.

These operators associate left-to-right.

Examples

"" < "ab"       // result has value TRUE
"a" > "A"       // result has value TRUE
"a0" < "ab"     // result has value TRUE
"aA <= "abc"    // result has value TRUE
// -----------------------------------------
NULL < [10,2.3] // result has value TRUE
TRUE > -3.4     // result has value FALSE
TRUE < -3.4     // result has value FALSE
TRUE >= -3.4    // result has value TRUE
FALSE < "abc"   // result has value TRUE
// -----------------------------------------
10 <= 0         // result has value FALSE
10 >= "-3.4"    // result has value TRUE
"-5.1" > 0      // result has value FALSE
// -----------------------------------------
[100] < [10,20,30] // result has value TRUE (LHS array is shorter)
[10,20] >= ["red"=>0,"green"=>0] // result has value FALSE, (key 10 does not exists in RHS)
["red"=>0,"green"=>0] >= ["green"=>0,"red"=>0] // result has value TRUE (order is irrelevant)
// ------------------------------------
function order_func($a, $b) {
    return ($a->$x <=> $b->x) ?: ($a->y <=> $b->y) ?: ($a->z <=> $b->z);
}

Equality Operators

Syntax

equality-expression:
   relational-expression
   equality-expression   ==   relational-expression
   equality-expression   !=   relational-expression
   equality-expression   <>   relational-expression
   equality-expression   ===   relational-expression
   equality-expression   !==   relational-expression

Semantics

Operator == represents value equality, operators != and <> are equivalent and represent value inequality.

For operators ==, !=, and <>, the operands of different types are converted and compared according to the same rules as in relational operators. Two objects of different types are always not equal.

Operator === represents same type and value equality, or identity, comparison, and operator !== represents the opposite of ===. The values are considered identical if they have the same type and compare as equal, with the additional conditions below:

When comparing two objects, identity operators check to see if the two operands are the exact same object, not two different objects of the same type and value.
Arrays must have the same elements in the same order to be considered identical.
Strings are identical if they contain the same characters, unlike value comparison operators no conversions are performed for numeric strings.

The type of the result is bool.

These operators associate left-to-right.

Examples

"a" <> "aa" // result has value TRUE
// -----------------------------------------
NULL == 0   // result has value TRUE
NULL === 0  // result has value FALSE
TRUE != 100  // result has value FALSE
TRUE !== 100  // result has value TRUE
// -----------------------------------------
"10" != 10  // result has value FALSE
"10" !== 10 // result has value TRUE
// -----------------------------------------
[10,20] == [10,20.0]  // result has value TRUE
[10,20] === [10,20.0] // result has value FALSE
["red"=>0,"green"=>0] === ["red"=>0,"green"=>0] // result has value TRUE
["red"=>0,"green"=>0] === ["green"=>0,"red"=>0] // result has value FALSE

Bitwise AND Operator

Syntax

bitwise-AND-expression:
   equality-expression
   bitwise-AND-expression   &   equality-expression

Constraints

Each of the operands must have scalar-compatible type.

Semantics

If either of the operands is an object supporting the operation, the result is defined by that object’s semantics, with the left operand checked first.

The result of this operator is the bitwise-AND of the two operands, and the type of that result is int.

However, if both operands are strings, the result is the string composed of the sequence of bytes that are the result of bitwise AND operation performed on the bytes of the operand strings in the matching positions (result[0] = s1[0] & s2[0], etc.). If one of the strings is longer than the other, it is cut to the length of the shorter one.

This operator associates left-to-right.

Examples

0b101111 & 0b101          // 0b101
$lLetter = 0x73;          // letter 's'
$uLetter = $lLetter & ~0x20;  // clear the 6th bit to make letter 'S'

Bitwise Exclusive OR Operator

Syntax

bitwise-exc-OR-expression:
   bitwise-AND-expression
   bitwise-exc-OR-expression   ^   bitwise-AND-expression

Constraints

Each of the operands must have scalar-compatible type.

Semantics

If either of the operands is an object supporting the operation, the result is defined by that object’s semantics, with the left operand checked first.

The result of this operator is the bitwise exclusive-OR of the two operands, and the type of that result is int.

However, if both operands are strings, the result is the string composed of the sequence of bytes that are the result of bitwise XOR operation performed on the bytes of the operand strings in the matching positions (result[0] = s1[0] ^ s2[0], etc.). If one of the strings is longer than the other, it is cut to the length of the shorter one.

This operator associates left-to-right.

Examples

0b101111 ^ 0b101    // 0b101010
$v1 = 1234; $v2 = -987; // swap two integers having different values
$v1 = $v1 ^ $v2;
$v2 = $v1 ^ $v2;
$v1 = $v1 ^ $v2;    // $v1 is now -987, and $v2 is now 1234

Bitwise Inclusive OR Operator

Syntax

bitwise-inc-OR-expression:
   bitwise-exc-OR-expression
   bitwise-inc-OR-expression   |   bitwise-exc-OR-expression

Constraints

Each of the operands must have scalar-compatible type.

Semantics

If either of the operands is an object supporting the operation, the result is defined by that object’s semantics, with the left operand checked first.

The result of this operator is the bitwise inclusive-OR of the two operands, and the type of that result is int.

However, if both operands are strings, the result is the string composed of the sequence of bytes that are the result of bitwise OR operation performed on the bytes of the operand strings in the matching positions (result[0] = s1[0] | s2[0], etc.). If one of the strings is shorter than the other, it is extended with zero bytes.

This operator associates left-to-right.

Examples

0b101111 | 0b101      // 0b101111
$uLetter = 0x41;      // letter 'A'
$lLetter = $upCaseLetter | 0x20;  // set the 6th bit to make letter 'a'

Logical AND Operator (form 1)

Syntax

logical-AND-expression-1:
   bitwise-inc-OR-expression
   logical-AND-expression-1   &&   bitwise-inc-OR-expression

Semantics

Given the expression e1 && e2, e1 is evaluated first. If e1 converts to bool as FALSE, e2 is not evaluated, and the result has type bool, value FALSE. Otherwise, e2 is evaluated. If e2 converts to bool as FALSE, the result has type bool, value FALSE; otherwise, it has type bool, value TRUE. There is a sequence point after the evaluation of e1.

This operator associates left-to-right.

Except for the difference in precedence, operator && has exactly the same semantics as operator and.

Examples

if ($month > 1 && $month <= 12) ...

Logical Inclusive OR Operator (form 1)

Syntax

logical-inc-OR-expression-1:
   logical-AND-expression-1
   logical-inc-OR-expression-1   ||   logical-AND-expression-1

Semantics

Given the expression e1 || e2, e1 is evaluated first. If e1 converts to bool as TRUE, e2 is not evaluated, and the result has type bool, value TRUE. Otherwise, e2 is evaluated. If e2 converts to bool as TRUE, the result has type bool, value TRUE; otherwise, it has type bool, value FALSE. There is a sequence point after the evaluation of e1.

This operator associates left-to-right.

Examples

if ($month < 1 || $month > 12) ...

Coalesce Operator

Syntax

coalesce-expression:
   logical-inc-OR-expression-1
   logical-inc-OR-expression-1   ??   coalesce-expression

Semantics

Given the expression e1 ?? e2, if e1 is set and not NULL (i.e. TRUE for isset), then the result is e1. Otherwise, then and only then is e2 evaluated, and the result becomes the result of the whole expression. There is a sequence point after the evaluation of e1.

Note that the semantics of ?? is similar to isset so that uninitialized variables will not produce warnings when used in e1.

This operator associates right-to-left.

Examples

$arr = ["foo" => "bar", "qux" => NULL];
$obj = (object)$arr;

$a = $arr["foo"] ?? "bang"; // "bar" as $arr["foo"] is set and not NULL
$a = $arr["qux"] ?? "bang"; // "bang" as $arr["qux"] is NULL
$a = $arr["bing"] ?? "bang"; // "bang" as $arr["bing"] is not set

$a = $obj->foo ?? "bang"; // "bar" as $obj->foo is set and not NULL
$a = $obj->qux ?? "bang"; // "bang" as $obj->qux is NULL
$a = $obj->bing ?? "bang"; // "bang" as $obj->bing is not set

$a = NULL ?? $arr["bing"] ?? 2; // 2 as NULL is NULL, and $arr["bing"] is not set

function foo() {
    echo "executed!", PHP_EOL;
}
var_dump(true ?? foo()); // outputs bool(true), "executed!" does not appear as it short-circuits

Conditional Operator

Syntax

conditional-expression:
   coalesce-expression
   conditional-expression   ?   expression_opt   :   coalesce-expression

Semantics Given the expression e1 ? e2 : e3, e1 is evaluated first and converted to bool if it has another type. If the result is TRUE, then and only then is e2 evaluated, and the result and its type become the result and type of the whole expression. Otherwise, then and only then is e3 evaluated, and the result and its type become the result and type of the whole expression. There is a sequence point after the evaluation of e1. If e2 is omitted, the result and type of the whole expression is the value and type of e1 (before the conversion to bool).

This operator associates left-to-right.

Examples

for ($i = -5; $i <= 5; ++$i)
  echo "$i is ".(($i & 1 == TRUE) ? "odd\n" : "even\n");
// -----------------------------------------
$a = 10 ? : "Hello";  // result is int with value 10
$a = 0 ? : "Hello";     // result is string with value "Hello"
$i = PHP_INT_MAX;
$a = $i++ ? : "red";  // result is int with value 2147483647 (on a 32-bit
                // system) even though $i is now the float 2147483648.0
// -----------------------------------------
$i++ ? f($i) : f(++$i); // the sequence point makes this well-defined
// -----------------------------------------
function factorial($int)
{
  return ($int > 1) ? $int * factorial($int - 1) : $int;
}

Assignment Operators

General

Syntax

assignment-expression:
   conditional-expression
   simple-assignment-expression
   compound-assignment-expression

Constraints

The left-hand operand of an assignment operator must be a modifiable lvalue.

Semantics

These operators associate right-to-left.

Simple Assignment

Syntax

simple-assignment-expression:
   variable   =   assignment-expression
   list-intrinsic   =   assignment-expression

Constraints

If the location designated by the left-hand operand is a string element, the key must not be a negative-valued int, and the right-hand operand must have type string.

Semantics

If assignment-expression designates an expression having value type, see assignment for scalar types If assignment-expression designates an expression having handle type, see assignment for object and resource types. If assignment-expression designates an expression having array type, see assignment of array types.

The type and value of the result is the type and value of the left-hand operand after the store (if any [see below]) has taken place. The result is not an lvalue.

If the location designated by the left-hand operand is a non-existent array element, a new element is inserted with the designated key and with a value being that of the right-hand operand.

If the location designated by the left-hand operand is a string element, then if the key is a negative-valued int, there is no side effect. Otherwise, if the key is a non-negative-valued int, the left-most single character from the right-hand operand is stored at the designated location; all other characters in the right-hand operand string are ignored. If the designated location is beyond the end of the destination string, that string is extended to the new length with spaces (0x20) added as padding beyond the old end and before the newly added character. If the right-hand operand is an empty string, the null character \0 (0x00) is stored.

Examples

$a = $b = 10    // equivalent to $a = ($b = 10)
$v = array(10, 20, 30);
$v[1] = 1.234;    // change the value (and type) of an existing element
$v[-10] = 19;   // insert a new element with int key -10
$v["red"] = TRUE; // insert a new element with string key "red"
$s = "red";
$s[1] = "X";    // OK; "e" -> "X"
$s[-5] = "Y";   // warning; string unchanged
$s[5] = "Z";    // extends string with "Z", padding with spaces in [3]-[5]
$s = "red";
$s[0] = "DEF";    // "r" -> "D"; only 1 char changed; "EF" ignored
$s[0] = "";       // "D" -> "\0"
$s["zz"] = "Q";   // warning; defaults to [0], and "Q" is stored there
// -----------------------------------------
class C { ... }
$a = new C; // make $a point to the allocated object

list intrinsic

Syntax

list-intrinsic:
   list   (   list-expression-list   )

list-expression-list:
   unkeyed-list-expression-list
   keyed-list-expression-list   ,_opt

unkeyed-list-expression-list:
   list-or-variable
   ,
   unkeyed-list-expression-list   ,   list-or-variable_opt

keyed-list-expression-list:
   expression   =>   list-or-variable
   keyed-list-expression-list   ,   expression   =>   list-or-variable

list-or-variable:
   list-intrinsic
   &_opt   variable

Constraints

list-intrinsic must be used as the left-hand operand in a simple-assignment-expression of which the right-hand operand must be an expression that designates an array or object implementing the ArrayAccess interface (called the source array).

Each variable in list-or-variable must designate a writable variable (called the target variable).

At least one of the elements of the list-expression-list must be non-empty.

Semantics

This intrinsic assigns one or more elements of the source array to the target variables. Target variables may be assigned by reference. On success, it will return a copy of the source array. If the source array is not an array or object implementing ArrayAccess no assignments are performed and the return value is NULL.

For unkeyed-list-expression-list, all elements in the source array having keys of type string are ignored. The element having an int key of 0 is assigned to the first target variable, the element having an int key of 1 is assigned to the second target variable, and so on, until all target variables have been assigned. Any other array elements are ignored. If there are fewer source array elements having int keys than there are target variables, the unassigned target variables are set to NULL and a non-fatal error is produced.

For keyed-list-expression-list, each key-variable pair is handled in turn, with the key and variable being separated by the => symbol. The element having the first key, with the key having been converted using the same rules as the subscript operator, is assigned to the frst target variable. This process is repeated for the second => pair, if any, and so on. Any other array elements are ignored. If there is no array element with a given key, the unassigned target variable is set to NULL and a non-fatal error is produced.

The assignments must occur in this order.

Any target variable may be a list, in which case, the corresponding element is expected to be an array.

If the source array elements and the target variables overlap in any way, the behavior is unspecified.

Examples

list($min, $max, $avg) = array(0, 100, 67);
  // $min is 0, $max is 100, $avg is 67
list($min, $max, $avg) = array(2 => 67, 1 => 100, 0 => 0);
  // same as example above
list($min, , $avg) = array(0, 100, 67);
  // $min is 0, $avg is 67
list($min, $max, $avg) = array(0, 2 => 100, 4 => 67);
  // $min is 0, $max is NULL, $avg is 100
list($min, list($max, $avg)) = [0, [1 => 67, 99, 0 => 100], 33];
  // $min is 0, $max is 100, $avg is 67

list($arr[1], $arr[0]) = [0, 1];
  // $arr is [1 => 0, 0 => 1], in this order
list($arr2[], $arr2[]) = [0, 1];
  // $arr2 is [0, 1]

$a = [1, 2];
list(&$one, $two) = $a;
  // $a[0] is 1, $a[1] is 2
$one++;
  // $a[0] is 2, $a[1] is 2

list("one" => $one, "two" => $two) = ["one" => 1, "two" => 2];
  // $one is 1, $two is 2
list(
    "one" => $one,
    "two" => $two,
) = [
    "one" => 1,
    "two" => 2,
];
  // $one is 1, $two is 2

$a = ['one' => 1, 'two' => 2];
list('one' => &$one, 'two' => $two) = $a;
  // $a['one'] is 1, $a['two'] is 2
$one++;
  // $a['one'] is 2, $a['two'] is 2

list(list("x" => $x1, "y" => $y1), list("x" => $x2, "y" => $y2)) = [
    ["x" => 1, "y" => 2],
    ["x" => 3, "y" => 4]
];
  // $x1 is 1, $y1 is 2, $x2 is 3, $y2 is 4
list(0 => list($x1, $x2), 1 => list($x2, $y2)) = [[1, 2], [3, 4]];
  // $x1 is 1, $y1 is 2, $x2 is 3, $y2 is 4

byRef Assignment

Syntax

byref-assignment-expression:
   variable   =   &   variable

Constraints

The right-hand-side variable must be an lvalue or a call to a function that returns a value byRef.

Semantics

unary-expression becomes an alias for assignment-expression. If assignment-expression designates an expression having value type, see byRef assignment for scalar types If assignment-expression designates an expression having handle type, see byRef assignment for non-scalar types. If assignment-expression designates an expression having array type, see deferred array copying.

Examples

$a = 10;
$b =& $a;   // make $b an alias of $a
++$a;       // increment $a/$b to 11
$b = -12;   // sets $a/$b to -12
$a = "abc";     // sets $a/$b to "abc"
unset($b);      // removes $b's alias to $a
// -----------------------------------------
function &g2() { $t = "xxx"; return $t; } // return byRef
$b =& g2();     // make $b an alias to "xxx"

Compound Assignment

Syntax

compound-assignment-expression:
   variable   compound-assignment-operator   assignment-expression

compound-assignment-operator: one of
   **=   *=   /=   %=   +=   -=   .=   <<=   >>=   &=   ^=   |=

Constraints

Any constraints that apply to the corresponding binary operator apply to the compound-assignment form as well.

Semantics

The expression e1 op= e2 is equivalent to e1 = e1 op (e2), except that e1 is evaluated only once.

Examples

$v = 10;
$v += 20;   // $v = 30
$v -= 5;    // $v = 25
$v .= 123.45  // $v = "25123.45"
$a = [100, 200, 300];
$i = 1;
$a[$i++] += 50; // $a[1] = 250, $i → 2

`yield` Operator

Syntax

yield-from-expression:
   yield from   assignment-expression

yield-expression:
   yield-from-expression
   yield
   yield   yield-expression
   yield   yield-from-expression   =>   yield-expression

Semantics

Any function containing a yield-expression is a generator function. A generator function generates a collection of zero or more key/value pairs where each pair represents the next in some series. For example, a generator might yield random numbers or the series of Fibonacci numbers. When a generator function is called explicitly, it returns an object of type Generator, which implements the interface Iterator. As such, this allows that object to be iterated over using the foreach statement. During each iteration, the Engine calls the generator function implicitly to get the next key/value pair. Then the Engine saves the state of the generator for subsequent key/value pair requests.

The yield operator produces the result NULL unless the method Generator->send was called to provide a result value. This operator has the side effect of generating the next value in the collection.

If the key is omitted from an a yield-expression, an element key of type int is associated with the corresponding value. The key associated is one more than the previously assigned int key for this collection. However, if this is the first element in this collection with an int key, zero is used.

If the value is also omitted, NULL will be used instead.

If the generator function definition declares that it returns byRef, each value in a key/value pair is yielded byRef.

The following applies only to the yield from form:

A generator function (referred to as a delegating generator) can delegate to another generator function (referred to as a subgenerator), a Traversable object, or an array, each of which is designated by expression.

Each value yielded by assignment-expression is passed directly to the delegating generator’s caller.

Each value sent to the delegating generator’s send method is passed to the subgenerator’s send method. If assignment-expression is not a generator function, any sent values are ignored.

Exceptions thrown by assignment-expression are propagated up to the delegating generator.

Upon traversable completion, NULL is returned to the delegating generator if the traversable is not a generator. If the traversable is a generator, its return value is sent to the delegating generator as the value of the yield from expression.

An exception of type Error is thrown if assignment-expression evaluates to a generator that previously terminated with an uncaught exception, or it evaluates to something that is neither Traversable nor an array.

Examples

function getTextFileLines($filename)
{
  $infile = fopen($filename, 'r');
  if ($infile == FALSE) { /* deal with the file-open failure */ }

  try
  {
    while ($textLine = fgets($infile))  // while not EOF
    {
      $textLine = rtrim($textLine, "\r\n"); // strip off terminator
      yield $textLine;
    }
  }
  finally
  {
    fclose($infile);
  }
}
foreach (getTextFileLines("Testfile.txt") as $line) { /* process each line */ }
// -----------------------------------------
function series($start, $end, $keyPrefix = "")
{
  for ($i = $start; $i <= $end; ++$i)
  {
    yield $keyPrefix . $i => $i;  // generate a key/value pair
  }
}
foreach (series(1, 5, "X") as $key => $val) { /* process each key/val pair */ }
// -----------------------------------------
function gen()
{
    yield 1;
    yield from gen2();
    yield 4;
}
function gen2()
{
    yield 2;
    yield 3;
}
foreach (gen() as $val)
{
    echo $val . "\n";   // Produces the values 1, 2, 3, and 4
}
// -----------------------------------------
function g() {
  yield 1;
  yield from [2, 3];
  yield 4;
}
$g = g();
foreach ($g as $yielded) {
    echo $yielded . "\n";   // Produces the values 1, 2, 3, and 4
}

Print expression

Syntax

print-expression:
   yield-expression
   print   print-expression

Constraints

print-expression value must be convertable to a string. In particular, it should not be an array and if it is an object, it must implement a __toString method.

Semantics

After converting print-expression’s value into a string, if necessary, print writes the resulting string to STDOUT. Unlike echo, print can be used in any context allowing an expression. It always returns the value 1.

Examples

$v1 = TRUE;
$v2 = 123;
print  '>>' . $v1 . '|' . $v2 . "<<\n";   // outputs ">>1|123<<"
print ('>>' . $v1 . '|' . $v2 . "<<\n");  // outputs ">>1|123<<"
$v3 = "qqq{$v2}zzz";
print "$v3\n";            // outputs "qqq123zzz"
$a > $b ? print "..." : print "...";

Logical AND Operator (form 2)

Syntax

logical-AND-expression-2:
   print-expression
   logical-AND-expression-2   and   yield-expression

Semantics

Except for the difference in precedence, operator and has exactly the same semantics as operator &&.

Logical Exclusive OR Operator

Syntax

logical-exc-OR-expression:
   logical-AND-expression-2
   logical-exc-OR-expression   xor   logical-AND-expression-2

Semantics

If either operand does not have type bool, its value is first converted to that type.

Given the expression e1 xor e2, e1 is evaluated first, then e2. If either e1 or e2 converted to bool as TRUE, but not both, the result has type bool, value TRUE. Otherwise, the result has type bool, value FALSE. There is a sequence point after the evaluation of e1.

This operator associates left-to-right.

Examples

f($i++) xor g($i) // the sequence point makes this well-defined

Logical Inclusive OR Operator (form 2)

Syntax

logical-inc-OR-expression-2:
   logical-exc-OR-expression
   logical-inc-OR-expression-2   or   logical-exc-OR-expression

Semantics

Except for the difference in precedence, operator and has exactly the same semantics as operator ||.

Script Inclusion Operators

General

Syntax

expression:
   logical-inc-OR-expression-2
   include-expression
   include-once-expression
   require-expression
   require-once-expression

Semantics

When creating large applications or building component libraries, it is useful to be able to break up the source code into small, manageable pieces each of which performs some specific task, and which can be shared somehow, and tested, maintained, and deployed individually. For example, a programmer might define a series of useful constants and use them in numerous and possibly unrelated applications. Likewise, a set of class definitions can be shared among numerous applications needing to create objects of those types.

An include file is a script that is suitable for inclusion by another script. The script doing the including is the including file, while the one being included is the included file. A script can be an including file and an included file, either, or neither.

Using the series-of-constants example, an include file called Positions.php might define the constants TOP, BOTTOM, LEFT, and RIGHT, in their own namespace, Positions. Using the set-of-classes example, to support two-dimensional geometry applications, an include file called Point.php might define the class Point. An include file called Line.php might define the class Line (where a Line is represented as a pair of Points).An include file, called Circle.php might define the class Circle (where a Circle is represented as a Point for the origin, and a radius).

If a number of the scripts making up an application each use one or more of the Position constants, they can each include the corresponding include file via the include operator. However, most include files behave the same way each time they are included, so it is generally a waste of time including the same include file more than once into the same scope. In the case of the geometry example, any attempt to include the same include file more than once will result in a fatal “attempted class type redefinition” error. However, this can be avoided by using the include_once operator instead.

The require operator is a variant of the include operator, and the require_once operator is a variant of the include_once operator.

It is important to understand that unlike the C/C++ (or similar) preprocessor, script inclusion in PHP is not a text substitution process. That is, the contents of an included file are not treated as if they directly replaced the inclusion operation source in the including file. See examples below for more information.

An inclusion expression can be written to look like a function call; however, that is not the case, even though an included file can return a value to its including file.

The name used to specify an include file may contain an absolute or relative path. In the latter case, an implementation may use the configuration directive include_path to resolve the include file’s location.

Examples:

As mentioned above, script inclusion in PHP is not a text substitution process (unlike C/C++'s preprocessor and alike). This allows that one can specify namespaces in the included file even though nested namespaces in a single file only are not permitted:

include.php

namespace foo;
$x = 'hello';
foo();

index.php

namespace bar {
  include 'include.php'; // this is fine does not result in a nested namespace
  echo $x;               // hello
  \foo\foo();            // function foo is still member of the foo namespace

  //namespace baz{}      // would fail, nesting namespaces are not allowed
}

Moreover, nested classes in a single file are not permitted whereas classes defined in an included file does not result in a nested class (in a conditionally defined class though) - the same applies for nested interfaces or traits:

include.php

namespace foo;
class Foo{}

index.php

class Bar{
  function bar(){
    include 'include.php'; // this is fine, does not result in a nested class
  }
  //class Foo1{}       // would fail, nested classes are not allowed
  //interface Foo2{}   // would fail as well
  //trait Foo3{}       // and would fail as well
}
new Foo();             // fails, \Foo could not be found
new \foo\Foo();        // fails, definition for class Foo was not loaded yet
$bar = new Bar();
$bar->bar();
new Foo();             // still fails, include != use statement
new \foo\Foo();        // succeeds, definition for class Foo was loaded

c-constants can not be defined within a function or method (in contrast to d-constants. As in the other examples above, this is perfectly legal when it happens through a file inclusion in which the constant does not lose its scope. Consider the following example:

include.php

namespace foo;
const X = 2;

index.php

class Bar{
  function bar(){
    include 'include.php';
  }
}
echo X;                // emits a warning: Use of undefined constant X ...
echo \foo\X;           // same as above since the inclusion did not happen yet
$bar = new Bar();
$bar->bar();
echo X;                // still fails, include != use statement
echo \foo\X;           // succeeds, X was defined through the inclusion

In contrast to constants, functions, classes, interfaces and traits, variables defined at the top level of a file might change their meaning (being a global variable) when the corresponding file is included by another file. This is the case when the inclusion happens in a local scope. In this case the variables become local variables of the corresponding scope. Following an example as illustration:

include.php

namespace foo;
$x = 'hello';

index.php

function bar(){
  include 'include.php';  // introduces the local variable $x
  $x = 'hi';              // modification is only local
  return $x;
}
echo bar();               // hi
echo $x;                  // emits a notice: Undefined variable: x ...

include 'include.php';    // introduces the global variable $x
echo $x;                  // hello

The `include` Operator

Syntax

include-expression:
   include   expression

Constraints

expression must be convertable to a string, which designates a filename.

Semantics

Operator include results in parsing and executing the designated include file. If the filename is invalid or does not specify a readable file, a non-fatal error is produced.

When an included file is opened, parsing begins in HTML mode at the beginning of the file. After the included file has been parsed, it is immediately executed.

Variables defined in an included file take on scope of the source line on which the inclusion occurs in the including file. However, functions and classes defined in the included file are always in global scope.

If inclusion occurs inside a function definition within the including file, the complete contents of the included file are treated as though it were defined inside that function.

The result produced by this operator is one of the following:

If the included file returned any value, that value is the result.
If the included file has not returned any value, the result is the integer 1.
If the inclusion failed for any reason, the result is FALSE.

The library function get_included_files provides the names of all files included by any of the four including operators.

Examples:

$fileName = 'limits' . '.php'; include $fileName;
$inc = include('limits.php');
If ((include 'Positions.php') == 1) ...

The `include_once` Operator

Syntax

include-once-expression:
   include_once   expression

Semantics

This operator is identical to operator include except that in the case of include_once, the same include file is included once per program execution.

Once an include file has been included, a subsequent use of include_once on that include file results in a return value of TRUE but nothing else happens.

The files are identified by the full pathname, so different forms of the filename (such as full and relative path) still are considered the same file.

Examples:

Point.php:

\\ Point.php:
<?php ...
class Point { ... }

\\ Circle.php:
<?php ...
include_once 'Point.php';
class Circle { /* uses Point somehow */ }

\\ MyApp.php
include_once 'Point.php';   // Point.php included directly
include_once 'Circle.php';    // Point.php now not included indirectly
$p1 = new Point(10, 20);
$c1 = new Circle(9, 7, 2.4);

The `require` Operator

Syntax

require-expression:
   require   expression

Semantics

This operator is identical to operator include except that in the case of require, failure to find/open the designated include file produces a fatal error.

The `require_once` Operator

Syntax

require-once-expression:
   require_once   expression

Semantics

This operator is identical to operator require except that in the case of require_once, the include file is included once per program execution.

Once an include file has been included, a subsequent use of require_once on that include file results in a return value of TRUE but nothing else happens.

The files are identified by the full pathname, so different forms of the filename (such as full and relative path) still are considered the same file.

Constant Expressions

Syntax

constant-expression:
   expression

Constraints

The expression may only use the following syntactic elements:

Literals. String literals must not use interpolation.
Array creation expressions.
Unary operators +, -, ~, !.
Binary operators +, -, *, /, %, ., **, ^, |, &, <, >, <=, >=, <=>, ==, !=, ===, !==, &&, ||, ??.
Conditional expressions.
Subscript expressions.
Constant access expressions.
Class constant access expressions.

Semantics

A constant-expression evaluates to the value of the constituent expression.

PHP Language Specification