>If this can still be implemented in userland you don't need logic integrated >at low level
Afaik it cannot be implemented in userland today. The closest you can get today is to use reference hacks, which introduce side-effects, like if you do function blank(&$value){...} blank($_POST['foo']) and foo doesn't exist, the & ref will *create* foo with null, like var_dump($_POST); // array(0) {} blank($_POST['foo']); var_dump($_POST); // array(1) {["foo"]=>NULL} But maybe we could make it possible like function blank(#[\AllowUndeclared] $value){...} var_dump($_POST); // array(0) {} blank($_POST['foo']); var_dump($_POST); // array(0) {}