From: z_rules55 at hotmail dot com Operating system: PHP version: Irrelevant PHP Bug Type: Documentation problem Bug description: Use parentheses when returning an expression... *everything* is an expression!
Description: ------------ The docs section on "return" (http://us3.php.net/manual/en/function.return.php) states that: "Note that since return() is a language construct and not a function, the parentheses surrounding its arguments are only required if the argument contains an expression. It is common to leave them out while returning a variable, and you actually should as PHP has less work to do in this case." But the docs on what an expression *is* (http://us3.php.net/manual/en/language.expressions.php) say that: "In PHP, almost anything you write is an expression. The simplest yet most accurate way to define an expression is "anything that has a value"." And then goes on to say that the literal '5' is an expression. It's confusing. What, then, is an expression in PHP? If parentheses are required when returning the value of an expression, does that mean an expression as in a calculation (return (1 + 2)), or an assignment (return ($GLOBALS['a'] = $b)), or a function call (return (funky_function())), or what? -- Edit bug report at http://bugs.php.net/?id=38723&edit=1 -- Try a CVS snapshot (PHP 4.4): http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=38723&r=trysnapshot44 Try a CVS snapshot (PHP 5.2): http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=38723&r=trysnapshot52 Try a CVS snapshot (PHP 6.0): http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=38723&r=trysnapshot60 Fixed in CVS: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=38723&r=fixedcvs Fixed in release: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=38723&r=alreadyfixed Need backtrace: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=38723&r=needtrace Need Reproduce Script: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=38723&r=needscript Try newer version: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=38723&r=oldversion Not developer issue: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=38723&r=support Expected behavior: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=38723&r=notwrong Not enough info: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=38723&r=notenoughinfo Submitted twice: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=38723&r=submittedtwice register_globals: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=38723&r=globals PHP 3 support discontinued: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=38723&r=php3 Daylight Savings: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=38723&r=dst IIS Stability: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=38723&r=isapi Install GNU Sed: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=38723&r=gnused Floating point limitations: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=38723&r=float No Zend Extensions: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=38723&r=nozend MySQL Configuration Error: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=38723&r=mysqlcfg
