Req #74362 [Wfx]: Make echo and print equivalent

Edit report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=74362&edit=1

 ID:                 74362
 Updated by:         [email protected]
 Reported by:        olafvdspek at gmail dot com
 Summary:            Make echo and print equivalent
 Status:             Wont fix
 Type:               Feature/Change Request
 Package:            Scripting Engine problem
 PHP Version:        Irrelevant
 Block user comment: N
 Private report:     N

 New Comment:

True about the difference being slightly larger, but as far as the original question goes: Yes, we could allow print to accept multiple arguments.

For that matter we could make echo return a value.  Neither is going to break anything[citation needed], and due to the way the compiler handles both statements, neither will perform worse (fun fact: the compiler turn both into ZEND_ECHO opcodes, just with a different extended_value which it doesn't even use).

Should we? It'd be a grammar change, so you'll need an RFC and a 2/3 vote in favor of it.  Without a compelling reason, I doubt you'll get that.


Previous Comments:
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[2017-04-02 15:33:01] [email protected]

Small example:

foo(print 1, 2);
^ is 2 a second argument to print or to foo?

That's ambiguous, hence we do not allow that.

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[2017-04-02 13:22:05] olafvdspek at gmail dot com

> That's not the only difference,

OK, so the documentation is wrong too?

@dm: sure, but that doesn't mean print couldn't support multiple arguments does it?

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[2017-04-02 13:03:11] [email protected]

`print` has a return value along with outputting and can be used as e.g. `return print json_encode(...);` while `echo` can not.

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[2017-04-02 12:45:54] [email protected]

That's not the only difference, the return types also vary. "echo" is "void" while "print" returns "int".

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[2017-04-02 12:42:39] olafvdspek at gmail dot com

Description:
------------
Could print be made equivalent to echo such that it accepts multiple arguments?

> The only difference to print is that echo accepts an argument list.
> The only difference to echo is that print only accepts a single argument.

http://php.net/echo
http://php.net/print

Test script:
---------------
<?php
echo('A', 2, 'C');
print('A', 2, 'C');

Actual result:
--------------
-


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Edit this bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=74362&edit=1