[PHP-DEV] Enum + property hook getter

Mailing Lists php.internals
1

Hi all,

Enums are not allowed to include object properties and with property hooks it's now possible to define get-only dynamic properties.

I just come across the following example and wonder if this could be allowed in the future:

enum Month:int {
case January = 1;
case February = 2;
case March = 3;
case April = 4;
case May = 5;
case June = 6;
case July = 7;
case August = 8;
case September = 9;
case October = 10;
case November = 11;
case December = 12;

 public string $abbreviation \{
     get => substr\($this\->name, 3\);
 \}

}

Means, allowing get-only property hooks on enums reducing the need to write "old school" getter methods.

Is that something feasible and how complicated would that be to implement?

Best,
Marc Bennewitz

2

Hi

Am 2025-02-07 16:03, schrieb Marc Bennewitz:

Is that something feasible and how complicated would that be to implement?

Supporting this might cause conflicts when full-blown tagged-unions are proposed, because those would actually support properties and semantics might need to be different than those a naive “rushed” implementation of property hooks for enums would propose.

See PHP: rfc:tagged_unions for an very early draft (which is not in a shape to be discussed further).

Best regards
Tim Düsterhus

3

Hi Tim,

Unintentionally, I first replied to Tim only but it was meant to be send to the list.

On 07.02.25 16:11, Tim Düsterhus wrote:

Hi

Am 2025-02-07 16:03, schrieb Marc Bennewitz:

Is that something feasible and how complicated would that be to implement?

Supporting this might cause conflicts when full-blown tagged-unions are proposed, because those would actually support properties and semantics might need to be different than those a naive “rushed” implementation of property hooks for enums would propose.

See PHP: rfc:tagged_unions for an very early draft (which is not in a shape to be discussed further).

I see - that would actually be a very nice feature - looking forward to it.

First thought it might have been overlooked and just not included for simplicity, but yes, tagged union looks much more impressive.

Thanks for your helpful explanation!

Best regards
Tim Düsterhus

Best,
Marc Bennewitz