Unexpected bracket '[' - PHP

Question

I'm writing a small repository for my little app team's Java code, and I have this error all over my code.

$base = explode(".", $class)[0];

The problem occurs only with this one line of code, every time. As far as I know, the above is correct PHP syntax, so what's going on?

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '[' in .../mitc/code/index.php on line 27

If you'd like to see the error, it's at http://chancehenrik.x10.mx/mitc/code/ and elsewhere on my site.

score 13 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 07 '13 at 02:52

13

That's called array dereferencing and only works in PHP 5.4+. You're probably running PHP 5.3.x wherever you are getting that error.

answered Feb 07 '13 at 02:52

John Conde

I see. The problem was that I was working on two servers, one local and one remote, with local.PHP == 5.4.7 and remote.PHP == 5.3.19. – Sammi De Guzman Feb 07 '13 at 02:57
1

See Antony's answer below – John Conde Feb 07 '13 at 02:57
1

In PHP < 5.4 you need to store the result in a variable first, then dereference it. – Raekye Feb 07 '13 at 02:57

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited Feb 07 '13 at 02:53

0

$exploded = explode(".", $class);
$base = $exploded[0];

edited Feb 07 '13 at 02:53

Musa

answered Feb 07 '13 at 02:53

Antony

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 07 '13 at 03:14

0

To work on older versions of PHP (<5.4), you should do:

list($base) = explode(".", $class);

That is:

list($a, $b, $c) = array(1, 2, 3);

Now $a=1, $b=2, and $c=3.

answered Feb 07 '13 at 03:14

Matthew

3 Answers3