CODEWITHSUNDEEP
php
Jask
Jask

Reputation: 680

Is it ever possible that echo in php will work like var_dump also?

I'm not taking about programming in php but php itself. Is it possible that creators of php will make echo to dump for example arrays like the var_dump does?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 296

Answers (3)

user187291
user187291

Reputation: 53940

in php you can create an object that walks like an array and quacks like an array, but still is an object with a customizable __toString method.

class ary implements ArrayAccess
{
 function __construct() {
  $this->a = func_get_args();
 }
 function offsetExists($k) {
  return isset($this->a[$k]);
 }
 function offsetGet($k) {
  return $this->a[$k];
 }
 function offsetSet($k, $v) {
  $this->a[$k] = $v;
 }
 function offsetUnset($k) {
  unset($this->a[$k]);
 }
 function __toString() {
  return implode(', ', $this->a);
 }
}

$a = new ary(11, 22, 33);
$a[1] = 66;
echo $a;

of course, it would be better is arrays already were normal objects like in other languages, but i don't think this is going to happen in the nearest future.

Upvotes: 2

Pekka
Pekka

Reputation: 449425

Is it possible that creators of php will make echo to dump for example arrays like the var_dump does?

I think you mean if echo gets passed a variable that can not be displayed as a string, show a dump, instead of the current behaviour of showing its data type (e.g. Array)?

That would indeed make sense, but also be dangerous: What if an object contains data that the end user is not supposed to see?

I doubt the echo function (or, to be more exact, the string parsing functions of PHP) will undergo such a radical change, for exactly this reason.

Upvotes: 4

pauljwilliams
pauljwilliams

Reputation: 19225

Such a radical change to existing functionality would be a recipe for a lot of broken code. So I'd say no.

That said, this is PHP we're talking about, so it wouldnt surprise me....

Upvotes: 2

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