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Only allow loose comparison with numeric operands

Open jasny opened this issue 6 years ago • 3 comments

Similar to arithmetic operators (+/-/*///**/%), loose comparison operators should only be used for numeric values. This is true for ==, !=, <, >, <=, >= and <=>.

Using any of these operators for non-numeric values may lead to unexpected results.

The option to disallow == and != completely doesn't cover the full problem as other comparison operators are still allowed and might give unexpected result. It also disallows cases where you do want to use == because you're comparing numbers.

Good

42 == 42.0 // true
42 == "42" // true
42 == "4.2e1" // true
42 < "0xf1" // true

Bad

// convert to int, I guess
1000 >= "42 bytes" // true
(int)"42 bytes" // 42

// but not always :-(
(int)"4.2e1 bytes" // 42
1000 >= "4.2e1 bytes" // false ??

Universal rules of logic state that if a > b and b > c than a > c

$a = '42';
$b = 10;
$c = '9 dwarfs';

$a > $b // true
$b > $c // true
$a > $c // false ??

The spaceship operator should also not be used for strings.

function cmp1(string $x, string $y) {
    return $x <=> $y;
}

function cmp2(string $x, string $y) {
    return ($x . 'Foo') <=> ($y . 'Foo');
}

// Both functions should do the same, but...
cmp1("55", "5.5e1"); // 0
cmp2("55", "5.5e1"); // 1

The logic behind wether or not a string is converted to a number is just to complex. It's party explained in the manual, but that's not conclusive.

For strings you SHOULD always use === or strcmp.

While == could be useful to compare objects, the strange behaviour on strings makes this too dangerous.

$one = (object)['a' => 0];
$two = (object)['a' => '0.0'];
$three = (object)['a' => 'bar'];

$one == $two; // true
$one == $three; // true
$two == $three; // false

jasny avatar Oct 05 '18 13:10 jasny

This supersedes #12. That ticket fails to properly identify and describe the problem.

jasny avatar Oct 05 '18 13:10 jasny

Given #38, the ==, !=, >= and <= should also not be used if both parts are floats. This is already covered by that PR but could be covered by this test instead.

jasny avatar Oct 05 '18 13:10 jasny

Also see

  • http://phpsadness.com/sad/52
  • http://phpsadness.com/sad/47

jasny avatar Oct 20 '18 15:10 jasny