Description:
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I was wondering what the PHP community would think of adding an "integer matching" feature.

For instance, we have the asterisk ("*") and the question mark ("?") which denote multiple wildcard matching and single wildcard matching, respectively. Well, how about adding pound ("#") for multi-character integer matching and ampersand ("&") for single integer matching as well?

Output synopsis of corresponding wildcard traits:

Asterisk: foo* {Returns: foo, foo1, foobar, fooasdf, etc.}
Question: foo? {Returns: foo1, fooA, foo^, foo>, foo#, etc.}
Ampersand: foo& {Returns: foo1, foo2, foo3, foo4, foo5, etc.}
Pound: foo# {Returns: foo1,foo234,foo10040,foo71, foo, etc.}

Note the exception in the pound symbol feature: Unlike the asterisk, a pound being added to a regex indicates that AT LEAST one number must exist in the compared string in order for it to match. Naturally the ampersand follows this rule, also.

There are a variety of uses this new feature could have. Traversing arrays with numeric indeces, searching a file, binary searches, etc.

Thanks
-M