PHP 5.6

http://php.net/spec


✔ Variadic functions

<?php
class MySQL implements DB {
    public function query($query, ...$params) {
        $stmt = $this->pdo->prepare($query);
        $stmt->execute($params);
        return $stmt;
    }
}

$q = 'SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = ?';
$user = $db->query($q, $userID)->fetch();

✔ Argument Unpacking

<?php
// A better call_user_func_args
$args1 = [1, 2, 3];
$args2 = [4, 5, 6];
test(...$args1, ...$args2); // [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
test(1, 2, 3, ...$args2);   // [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
test(...$args1, 4, 5, 6);   // Fatal error: Cannot use positional argument after argument unpacking

✔ Constant scalar expressions

<?php
class Foo {
    const FOO = 1 + 1;
    const BAR = 1 << 1;
    const GREETING = "HELLO";
    const BAZ = self::GREETING." WORLD!"
}

✔ Add right-associative power operator **

<?php
echo 2 ** 3 ** 2; // 512 (not 64)
echo -3 ** 2; // -9 (not 9)
echo 1 - 3 ** 2; // -8
echo ~3 ** 2; // -10 (not 16)

✔ Internal operator overloading for internal features like GMP

<?php
echo 2**512;
echo "\n";
$n = gmp_init(2);
echo $n**512;

1.3407807929943E+154 13407807929942597099574024998205846127479365820592393377723561443721764030073546976801874298166903427690031858186486050853753882811946569946433649006084096

✔ use function and use const namespace imports

<?php
include 'template.inc';
include 'db.inc';
use function template\header, template\footer, db\query;

header('My Page');
query('select * from stuff');
footer(); 

✔ default_charset ini now applies to internal funcs


✔ SSL Peer verification by default


✔ openssl certificate fingerprints


✔ SAN x509 ext matching when verifying host names


✔ automatic DoS prevention of TLS renegotiation attacks


✔ and many more openssl-related options


✔ Asynchronous PostgreSQL database connections


✔ Non-blocking PostgreSQL queries


✔ New phpdbg SAPI


✔ Support for > 2GB file uploads


✔ The php://input stream is now re-usable


✔ Added hash_equals() for timing attack safe string comparison


✔ Added gost-crypto (CryptoPro S-box) hash algorithm


✔ FPM workers can now change their apparmor profile


✔ OCI8 Improvements


php.net/migration56