PHP 8.5 Released - Modern, Powerful, Refined

What's New

Explore the headline features that make PHP 8.5 exceptional

🌐

RFC 3986 & WHATWG URL API

Native, standards-compliant URI parsing with the new Uri extension. Clean, object-oriented API for working with URLs.

New Extension View example →

📋

Clone with Properties

Modify properties while cloning objects, including readonly properties. Perfect for immutable value objects.

Language Feature View example →

⚡

Pipe Operator

Write cleaner, more readable code by chaining function calls with the new pipe operator syntax.

Syntax View example →

⚠️

#[\NoDiscard] Attribute

Mark return values as important. Get warnings when critical function results are ignored.

Attribute View example →

🔧

First-Class Callables

Use closures and first-class callables in constant expressions and attributes for more powerful metaprogramming.

Enhancement View example →

🔗

Persistent cURL Handles

Improved performance with persistent cURL share handles. Better connection reuse across requests.

Performance View example →

See the Difference

RFC 3986 Compliant URI API

View RFC →

PHP < 8.5
$components = parse_url("https://php.net/releases/8.5");

var_dump($components['host']);
// string(7) "php.net"

PHP 8.5
use Uri\Rfc3986\Uri;

$uri = new Uri("https://php.net/releases/8.5");

var_dump($uri->getHost());
// string(7) "php.net"

Clone with Property Modification

View RFC →

PHP < 8.5
final readonly class PhpVersion {
    public function __construct(
        public string $version = 'PHP 8.4',
    ) {}

    public function withVersion(string $version) {
        $new = clone $this;
        $new->version = $version;
        return $new;
    }
}

// Fatal error: Cannot modify readonly property

PHP 8.5
final readonly class PhpVersion {
    public function __construct(
        public string $version = 'PHP 8.4',
    ) {}

    public function withVersion(string $version) {
        return clone($this, [
            'version' => $version
        ]);
    }
}

// Works perfectly! ✓

Pipe Operator for Readable Code

View RFC →

PHP < 8.5
$input = ' Some kind of string. ';

$output = strtolower(
    str_replace(['.', '/', '…'], '',
        str_replace(' ', '-',
            trim($input)
        )
    )
);

PHP 8.5
$input = ' Some kind of string. ';

$output = $input
    |> trim(...)
    |> (fn(string $s) => str_replace(' ', '-', $s))
    |> (fn(string $s) => str_replace(['.', '/', '…'], '', $s))
    |> strtolower(...);

New #[\NoDiscard] Attribute

View RFC →

PHP < 8.5
function getPhpVersion(): string {
    return 'PHP 8.4';
}

getPhpVersion();
// No warnings

PHP 8.5
#[\NoDiscard]
function getPhpVersion(): string {
    return 'PHP 8.5';
}

getPhpVersion();
// Warning: Return value should be used

First-Class Callables in Constant Expressions

View RFC →

PHP < 8.5
final class CalculatorTest {
    #[DataProvider('subtractionProvider')]
    public function testSubtraction(
        int $minuend,
        int $subtrahend,
        int $result
    ): void {
        // Test implementation
    }

    public static function subtractionProvider(): iterable {
        for ($i = -10; $i <= 10; $i++) {
            yield [$i, $i, 0];
        }
    }
}

PHP 8.5
final class CalculatorTest {
    #[Test\CaseGenerator(static function(): iterable {
        for ($i = -10; $i <= 10; $i++) {
            yield [$i, $i, 0];
            yield [$i, 0, $i];
            yield [0, $i, ($i * -1)];
        }
    })]
    public function testSubtraction(
        int $minuend,
        int $subtrahend,
        int $result
    ) {
        \assert(
            Calculator::subtract($minuend, $subtrahend) === $result
        );
    }
}

Persistent cURL Share Handle

View RFC →

PHP < 8.5
$sh = curl_share_init();
curl_share_setopt($sh, CURLSHOPT_SHARE, CURL_LOCK_DATA_DNS);
curl_share_setopt($sh, CURLSHOPT_SHARE, CURL_LOCK_DATA_CONNECT);

$ch1 = curl_init('https://php.net/');
curl_setopt($ch1, CURLOPT_SHARE, $sh);
curl_exec($ch1);

$ch2 = curl_init('https://thephp.foundation/');
curl_setopt($ch2, CURLOPT_SHARE, $sh);
curl_exec($ch2);

curl_share_close($sh);
curl_close($ch1);
curl_close($ch2);

PHP 8.5
$sh = curl_share_init_persistent([
    CURL_LOCK_DATA_DNS,
    CURL_LOCK_DATA_CONNECT
]);

$ch1 = curl_init('https://php.net/');
curl_setopt($ch1, CURLOPT_SHARE, $sh);
curl_exec($ch1);

$ch2 = curl_init('https://thephp.foundation/');
curl_setopt($ch2, CURLOPT_SHARE, $sh);
curl_exec($ch2);

// No need to close - persistent handle!
curl_close($ch1);
curl_close($ch2);

Even More Improvements

Language Enhancements

Property promotion for final classes
Attributes for constants
#[\Override] for properties
#[\Deprecated] for traits
Asymmetric visibility for static properties

New Functions

array_first() and array_last()
get_error_handler()
get_exception_handler()
grapheme_levenshtein()
curl_multi_get_handles()

Extended Functionality

DOM API improvements
Reflection enhancements
Enchant dictionary functions
OPcache file cache checking
Performance optimizations

PHP 8.5

A Major Step Forward

What's New

RFC 3986 & WHATWG URL API

Clone with Properties

Pipe Operator

#[\NoDiscard] Attribute

First-Class Callables

Persistent cURL Handles

See the Difference

RFC 3986 Compliant URI API

Clone with Property Modification

Pipe Operator for Readable Code

New #[\NoDiscard] Attribute

First-Class Callables in Constant Expressions

Persistent cURL Share Handle

Even More Improvements

Language Enhancements

New Functions

Extended Functionality

Ready to Upgrade?