PHP Manual: New Features

PHP Core

SensitiveParameter Attribute

Added the #[\SensitiveParameter] attribute to redact sensitive data in backtraces.

error_log_mode INI directive

The error_log_mode INI directive has been added which allows setting the permissions for the error log file.

Enumerations properties in constant expressions

It is now possible to fetch properties of Enumerations in constant expressions.

Type System Improvements

It is now possible to use null and false as stand-alone types.

The true type has been added.

It is now possible to combine intersection and union types. The type needs to be written in DNF.

Constants in Traits

It is now possible to define constants in traits.

Readonly Classes

Support for readonly on classes has been added.

cURL

Added the CURLINFO_EFFECTIVE_METHOD option, which returns the effective HTTP method in the return value of curl_getinfo().

Exposed multiple new constants from libcurl 7.62 to 7.80.

Added the curl_upkeep() function to perform any connection upkeep checks.

DBA

The LMDB Driver now accepts the DBA_LMDB_USE_SUB_DIR or DBA_LMDB_NO_SUB_DIR flags to determine if it should create a subdirectory or not when creating a database file.

OCI8

Added the oci8.prefetch_lob_size INI directive and oci_set_prefetch_lob() function to tune LOB query performance by reducing the number of round-trips between PHP and Oracle Databases when fetching LOBS. This is usable with Oracle Database 12.2 or later.

OpenSSL

Added AEAD support for the chacha20-poly1305 algorithm.

ODBC

Added the odbc_connection_string_is_quoted(), odbc_connection_string_should_quote(), and odbc_connection_string_quote() functions. These are primarily used behind the scenes in the ODBC and PDO_ODBC extensions, but are exposed to userland for easier unit testing, and for user applications and libraries to perform quoting themselves.

PCRE

Added support for the n (NO_AUTO_CAPTURE) modifier, which makes simple (xyz) groups non-capturing. Only named groups like (?<name>xyz) are capturing. This only affects which groups are capturing, it is still possible to use numbered subpattern references, and the matches array will still contain numbered results.

Random

This is a new extension which organises and consolidates existing implementations related to random number generators. New and better RNGs are available with scope issues eliminated.