Deprecate semicolons after case in switch statement

[upyx]

Description

Hello everyone 👋

Did you know that...

It's possible to use a semicolon instead of a colon after a case like:

<?php
switch($beer)
{
    case 'tuborg';
    case 'carlsberg';
    case 'heineken';
        echo 'Good choice';
    break;
    default;
        echo 'Please make a new selection...';
    break;
}
?>

This has been working since at least PHP 4: https://php-legacy-docs.zend.com/manual/php4/en/control-structures.switch

I had never seen syntax like this until I accidentally wrote it myself. The resulting code confused everyone.

IMO, this syntax doesn't have benefits and can lead to mistakes. Therefore, I propose to deprecate it and remove it from future versions.

[cmb69]

This syntax can be used when using plain PHP templates, e.g. https://3v4l.org/7mKS8. While I would not recommend to use switch statements in such templates, some code might still rely on that, so I think dropping support for semicolons after case requires an RFC.

[github-actions]

There has not been any recent activity in this feature request. It will automatically be closed in 14 days if no further action is taken. Please see https://github.com/probot/stale#is-closing-stale-issues-really-a-good-idea to understand why we auto-close stale feature requests.

[theodorejb]

Don't close it.

[cmb69]

Is anyone going to pursue the RFC process?

[theodorejb]

I'm interested in making an RFC, if someone can assist with the implementation.

[cmb69]

The implementation might be as simple as removing this line:

php-src/Zend/zend_language_parser.y

Line 716 in 96d1cd0

| ';'

Anyhow, I suggest that you write to mailing list to gauge some opinions.

[github-actions]

There has not been any recent activity in this feature request. It will automatically be closed in 14 days if no further action is taken. Please see https://github.com/probot/stale#is-closing-stale-issues-really-a-good-idea to understand why we auto-close stale feature requests.

[theodorejb]

Don't close

[DanielEScherzer]

Just cross-linking that this was added to the general 8.5 deprecations RFC (https://wiki.php.net/rfc/deprecations_php_8_5#deprecate_semicolon_after_case_in_switch_statement) and the discussion thread was at https://externals.io/message/126000