PHP 8 in 8 code blocks

PHP 8 brings lots of new features, in this list we'll look at the most outstanding ones. If you want a full list and background information, you can read about all thingsnew in PHP 8.

use \Support\Attributes\ListensTo;

class ProductSubscriber
{
    <<ListensTo(ProductCreated::class)>>
    public function onProductCreated(ProductCreated $event) { /* … */ }

    <<ListensTo(ProductDeleted::class)>>
    public function onProductDeleted(ProductDeleted $event) { /* … */ }
}

Attributes — aka annotations — you can about them in depth inthis post.

public function foo(Foo|Bar $input): int|float;

public function bar(mixed $input): mixed;

Union types allows for type hinting several types. There's also a new mixed type which representsseveral types at once.

interface Foo
{
    public function bar(): static;
}

The static return type is built-in.

[JIT]
opcache.jit=5

The just-in-time compiler for PHP.

$triggerError = fn() => throw new MyError();

$foo = $bar['offset'] ?? throw new OffsetDoesNotExist('offset');

throw can be used in expressions.

try {
    // Something goes wrong
} catch (MySpecialException) {
    Log::error("Something went wrong");
}

Non-capturing catches: no need to specify an exception variable if you don't need it.

public function(
    string $parameterA,
    int $parameterB,
    Foo $objectfoo,
) {
    // …
}

Trailing commas are allowed in parameter lists

str_contains('string with lots of words', 'words');

str_starts_with('haystack', 'hay');

str_ends_with('haystack', 'stack');

New string functions.

Let's not fool ourselves: 8 code blocks isn't enough to summarise all great new things in PHP 8. So let's just add a few more.

function bar(Stringable $stringable) { /* … */ }

A new Stringable interface .

$object::class

Call ::class directly on objects.

There's even more. If you want a full list, you can find iton this blog.

What feature are you looking forward to the most? Let me know on Twitter or viaemail.