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Doc Bug #69735 array_splice() return value could be confusing
Submitted: 2015-05-31 18:50 UTC Modified: 2015-12-18 21:14 UTC
From: chealer at gmail dot com Assigned: tpunt (profile)
Status: Closed Package: Documentation problem
PHP Version: Irrelevant OS:
Private report: No CVE-ID: None
 [2015-05-31 18:50 UTC] chealer at gmail dot com
Description:
------------
I spent 10 minutes debugging why
$foo = array_splice($foo, 0, 1);
would remove the wrong element from a 2-element array. I then realized I has misread the documentation:
---
From manual page: http://www.php.net/function.array-splice
---

Return Values ΒΆ

Returns the array consisting of the extracted elements.

----
I had hastily read the above as "Returns the array without the extracted elements."

There is no way I could have been confused had I carefully read the whole sentence, but the sentence is still technically incorrect, since several arrays can consist of the extracted elements. I might not have misunderstood had the sentence read:

Returns an array consisting of the extracted elements.

Otherwise, the documentation could specify which array consisting of the extracted elements is returned.


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 [2015-05-31 19:02 UTC] chealer at gmail dot com
Note that while I do think my suggestion might have sufficed to prevent my mistake, I did not mean to imply that explicitly warning that the array returned does not contain the remaining elements was superfluous. I find the behavior somewhat unintuitive, and that seems to be confirmed by the most voted comment ( http://php.net/function.array-splice#106244 ). A greater protection against misunderstanding may be warranted.
 [2015-12-18 21:12 UTC] tpunt@php.net
Automatic comment from SVN on behalf of tpunt
Revision: http://svn.php.net/viewvc/?view=revision&revision=338309
Log: Resolves doc bug #69735
 [2015-12-18 21:12 UTC] tpunt@php.net
-Assigned To: +Assigned To: tpunt
 [2015-12-18 21:13 UTC] tpunt@php.net
It's a minor edit, but I do agree that saying that "the array" implies the original array, whereas "an array" would imply a new array.

Resolved with commit: https://svn.php.net/viewvc?view=revision&revision=338309
 [2015-12-18 21:14 UTC] tpunt@php.net
-Status: Assigned +Status: Closed
 
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