On Wed, 12 Nov 2025, 19:30 Mikhail Savin, <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Hi, guys, thanks for feedback
>
> Following the discussion with Alex and Derick, I've completed a
> comprehensive BC
> analysis. I need community input on a key decision: whether to include a
> return
> type in the interface declaration.
>
> ## The Two Options
>
> **Option A: WITH return type (current PR)**
> ```php
> interface BackedEnum {
> public static function values(): array;
> }
> ```
> - BC Breaks: 71-600 implementations (1.0-8.8%)
> - Better type safety and IDE support
> - Consistent with cases(): array
>
> **Option B: WITHOUT return type (alternative)**
> ```php
> interface BackedEnum {
> public static function values();
> }
> ```
> - BC Breaks: 0 (0%)
> - All existing implementations compatible
> - Can add `: array` in PHP 9.0
>
> ## BC Analysis Data
>
> Total enums with values(): 6,800
> - Compatible (: array): 6,200 (91.2%)
> - Missing return type: 64 (0.9%)
> - Wrong return types: 7 (0.1%)
> - Unaccounted: ~529 (7.8%)
>
> All GitHub search links: https://github.com/php/php-src/pull/20398
>
> ## Question for Community
>
> Which approach should we take for PHP 8.6?
>
> **Option A:** Accept 1-9% BC break for full type safety
> **Option B:** Zero BC breaks, add typing in PHP 9.0
>
> I'm inclined toward Option B (zero breaks for 8.6), but want to hear
> community
> preference before changing the implementation.
>
> Thoughts?
>
> ---
> Additional context:
> - Implementation change is trivial (one line)
> - Native implementation returns array regardless of interface
> - Alex's array_column suggestion incorporated (+3.6k usages)
> - All data verifiable via GitHub searches in PR
>
>
> Best regards, Mikhail
>
>
Hi Mikhail,
I personally don't see any added value by adding such a method to enums at
this point when getting the equivalent results is already possible by a one
liner.
`array_column(EnumFqcn::cases(), 'value');`
Kind regards,
Faizan
