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Doc Bug #30419 strpos does not autocast integer needles
Submitted: 2004-10-13 08:20 UTC Modified: 2004-10-13 13:38 UTC
Votes:1
Avg. Score:4.0 ± 0.0
Reproduced:1 of 1 (100.0%)
Same Version:1 (100.0%)
Same OS:1 (100.0%)
From: m dot konings at knowmany dot nl Assigned:
Status: Closed Package: Documentation problem
PHP Version: 4.3.8 OS: Windows XP SP2
Private report: No CVE-ID: None
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From: m dot konings at knowmany dot nl
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 [2004-10-13 08:20 UTC] m dot konings at knowmany dot nl 
Description:
------------
When I use a integer variable as needle to the strpos() function, the needle is not found.

Reproduce code:
---------------
<?
$str_haystack = '12345';
$str_needle = '3';
$int_haystack = 12345;
$int_needle = 3;

$test = strpos($str_haystack, $str_needle);
var_dump($test);

$test = strpos($str_haystack, $int_needle);
var_dump($test);

$test = strpos($int_haystack, $str_needle);
var_dump($test);

$test = strpos($int_haystack, $int_needle);
var_dump($test);
?>

Expected result:
----------------
Due to the fact the strpos() is declared as int strpos ( string haystack, string needle [, int offset] )

I would expect that using a integer as needle would cause a implicit type cast to string. This does not seem to be the case, because using an integer as needle for strpos() will always return false (bool).

Actual result:
--------------
The call to strpos() with the integer needle return false (bool), while the call to strpos() with string needles return the actual position within the haystack.

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 [2004-10-13 09:24 UTC] derick@php.net 
Thank you for taking the time to write to us, but this is not
a bug. Please double-check the documentation available at
http://www.php.net/manual/ and the instructions on how to report
a bug at http://bugs.php.net/how-to-report.php

See the manual (http://php.net/strpos):
   If needle is not a string, it is converted to an integer
   and applied as the ordinal value of a character.
 [2004-10-13 09:30 UTC] m dot konings at knowmany dot nl 
Thanks for the explanation. Although I feel that in this case the documenation should reflect that strpos() takes a mixed needle variable type, not a string. There are lots of other PHP functions that take mixed variable types as parameter, and for those, the manual states so in the function declaration.
 [2004-10-13 09:59 UTC] derick@php.net 
I agree with that, making it a documentation problem.
 [2004-10-13 13:23 UTC] aidan@php.net 
I'm not sure I agree with that. Almost all the functions take scalar values, but the prefered (or optimal) is listed.

PHP is loosely typed, I can't think of many situations were "1" instead of 1 will not work as expected (there are a few of course), I don't think these declarations should be changed to mixed either.
 [2004-10-13 13:26 UTC] derick@php.net 
True, but it should be done here becuase it makes the function behave in two TOTALLY different ways.
 [2004-10-13 13:38 UTC] aidan@php.net 
All fixed!
 
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