PHP 7 Features

gistfile1.md

PHP 7

Features you might not have known in 5.4, 5.5, 5.6

5.4

• Traits
• Short array syntax
• $this in closures

5.5

• Generators (function ($x) { while ($x > 0) yield $x--; })
• finally
• list() support for foreach
• array and string literal dereferencing ([23,42,1138][0])
• ::class

5.6

• Variadic functions (rest operator ...$params)
• Spread operator (...$params in a function call)
• use function and use const
• http://phpdbg.com/docs

Major features in 7

Scalar type declarations

function doSomething(int $number)
{
    return $number * $number;
}

Return type declarations

function doSomething() : array
{
    return [1, 2, 3];
}

Anonymous classes

class MyAwesomeClass {

    public function setLogger(LoggerInterface $logger)
    {
        $this->logger = $logger;
    }

}

$awesomeInstance = new MyAwesomeClass();
$awesomeInstance->setLogger(new class implements LoggerInterface {

    public function log($message)
    {
        file_put_contents('log.txt', $message);
    }

});

Minor features in 7

• Null coalescing operator $a ?? $b (if $a is null, return $b)
• Spaceship operator $a <=> $b (sorting comparison)