On Mon, 15 Jun 2026 at 06:23, Andreas Heigl <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
>
> On 15.06.26 06:53, Ben Ramsey wrote:
> > On 6/14/26 20:22, Seifeddine Gmati wrote:
> >> Hello Internals,
> >>
> >> I'd like to start the discussion on a new RFC adding literal scalar
> >> types to PHP.
> >>
> >> - RFC: https://wiki.php.net/rfc/literal_scalar_types
> >> - Implementation: https://github.com/php/php-src/pull/22314
> >>
> >> Thanks,
> >> Seifeddine.
> >
> >
> > I think I'm okay with this. David mentioned enums, and I do think enums
> > are useful in many places where you want types like this, but there's a
> > simplicity in this that I can't deny, and I like it.
>
> I do like the simplicity of this.
>
> But - especially for floats and ints - the next level would be to allow
> not only
>
> ```
> public function check(int -1|0|1 $minusOneThroughOne)
> ```
>
> but also something like
>
> ```
> public function check(int -1..1 $minusOneThrougOne)
> ```
>
> which would then also allow
>
> ```
> public function check (int 1..PHP_INT_MAX $positiveInt)
> ```
>
> would that also be something to be considered? It seems like a logical
> alternate option to not have to add every value literally to the option
> list...
>
> Cheers
>
> Andreas
> --
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> | Andreas Heigl |
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>
Hi Andreas,
Thanks! Your first example, `-1|0|1`, is already exactly what this RFC
does: a union of three int literals (you don't even need the `int`
prefix, just `function check(-1|0|1 $x): void {}`).
The second part, ranges like `-1..1` or `1..PHP_INT_MAX`, is a
genuinely different feature. And you're right that it's the logical
next step: enumerating every value doesn't scale, and something like
`1..PHP_INT_MAX` can't be written as a union at all.
I'd keep it out of this RFC, though. A range isn't a set of literals,
it's a constraint that has to be checked with a bounds predicate ($v
>= lo && $v <= hi), and it brings its own design questions: inclusive
vs exclusive bounds, open-ended ranges (1.., ..10), what's allowed as
a bound (plain constants? expressions like PHP_INT_MAX?), and how
coercion behaves at the edges. That's really a refinement-type feature
sitting on top of this one.
So it's a great follow-up, and a natural one once literals exist, but
I think it deserves its own proposal rather than being folded in here.
Cheers,
Seifeddine
