The PHP RFC for square bracket syntax for array destructuring assignment has passed and will be included in PHP 7.1. The vote needed a 2/3 majority to be accepted, and it passed unanimously in favor.
Short array syntax was added to PHP 5.4, and it allowed you to define arrays in a square bracket style:
// Old array style
$array = array(1, 2, 3);
// 5.4 square bracket style.
$array = [1, 2, 3];The accepted proposal creates an alternative to using a “list” for destructuring an array. In all previous versions of PHP, this works like this:
list($a, $b, $c) = array(1, 2, 3);Now you can extract using a square bracket just as you do for assignment:
[$a, $b, $c] = [1, 2, 3];
["a" => $a, "b" => $b] = ["a" => a, "b", => 2];It also works in foreach loops:
foreach ($points as ["x" => $x, "y" => $y]) {
var_dump($x, $y);
}You can learn more from the PHP RFC and look for this in the PHP 7.1 release.