php.net |  support |  documentation |  report a bug |  advanced search |  search howto |  statistics |  random bug |  login

go to bug id or search bugs for

Bug #78383 Casting a DateTime to array no longer returns its properties
Submitted: 2019-08-07 13:03 UTC Modified: 2019-08-08 08:23 UTC
From: jeremy at derusse dot com Assigned: nikic (profile)
Status: Closed Package: Date/time related
PHP Version: 7.4.0beta1 OS: Linux
Private report: No CVE-ID: None
View Developer Edit
 [2019-08-07 13:03 UTC] jeremy at derusse dot com 
Description:
------------
Casting an instance of \Datetime to an array should return date's properties. Since PHP 7.4, the array is empty.

see https://3v4l.org/epBRn

Test script:
---------------
var_dump((array) new \Datetime('2000-01-01'));

Expected result:
----------------
array(3) {
  ["date"]=>
  string(26) "2000-01-01 00:00:00.000000"
  ["timezone_type"]=>
  int(3)
  ["timezone"]=>
  string(16) "Europe/Amsterdam"
}

Actual result:
--------------
array(0) {
}

Patches

Pull Requests

History

AllCommentsChangesGit/SVN commitsRelated reports
 [2019-08-07 16:02 UTC] [email protected] 
Casting to an array is undefined, see here:
https://www.php.net/manual/en/language.types.type-juggling.php
("The behaviour of an automatic conversion to array is currently undefined")
 [2019-08-07 16:21 UTC] [email protected]
-Status: Open +Status: Not a bug -Assigned To: +Assigned To: cmb
 [2019-08-07 16:21 UTC] [email protected] 
> Casting to an array is undefined, […]

Not wrt. objects[1]:

| An array converts to an object with properties named by keys and
| corresponding values.

Anyhow, this is a deliberate change[2]; DateTime objects are not
supposed to have public properties.

[1] <https://www.php.net/manual/en/language.types.object.php#language.types.object.casting>
[2] <https://github.com/php/php-src/blob/be794894ef30764e54a8a52fa6c085f3c4a88b14/UPGRADING#L56-L57>
 [2019-08-07 16:25 UTC] [email protected] 
We could easily restore the previous behavior wrt array casts here -- we're already keeping compatibility with json_encode() for example.

What's the use case?
 [2019-08-07 16:30 UTC] [email protected]
-Status: Not a bug +Status: Feedback -Assigned To: cmb +Assigned To: nikic
 [2019-08-07 16:30 UTC] [email protected] 
Well, then ... :)
 [2019-08-07 20:41 UTC] jeremy at derusse dot com
-Status: Feedback +Status: Assigned
 [2019-08-07 20:41 UTC] jeremy at derusse dot com 
We (symfony) implemented a generic serialization mechanism that uses array casts to extract state from objects. 
DateTime was not needing any special care, but now it would because the behavior changed between php 7.3 and 7.4, IMHO, it's a BC break.

Not https://3v4l.org/rdhKg: another change in the bevahior of \Datetime casting.
 [2019-08-08 07:53 UTC] [email protected]
-Summary: Casting a \Datetime to array no longer returns it properties +Summary: Casting a DateTime to array no longer returns its properties
 [2019-08-08 07:56 UTC] [email protected] 
Automatic comment on behalf of [email protected]
Revision: http://git.php.net/?p=php-src.git;a=commit;h=fc17bfaacfd48b3952652792bf684ff223499678
Log: Fixed bug #78383
 [2019-08-08 07:56 UTC] [email protected]
-Status: Assigned +Status: Closed
 [2019-08-08 08:23 UTC] jeremy at derusse dot com 
Thank you @nikic
 
PHP Copyright © 2001-2025 The PHP Group
All rights reserved. 		Last updated: Fri Jun 13 19:01:35 2025 UTC