PHP array element access

Question

Why does this work:

$parts = explode('#', $url);
$url = $parts[0];

while this doesn't:

$url = explode('#', $url)[0];

?

I know this feature was added in later versions of PHP. Before that version the former was the only way to access an array returned from a function. — christopher, Jan 14 '14 at 15:35
The 2nd syntax wasn't added until PHP 5.4. http://php.net/manual/en/migration54.new-features.php — gen_Eric, Jan 14 '14 at 15:36

score 8 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 14 '14 at 15:36

8

Direct de-referencing of an array, like in your second code example, was added to PHP 5.4. Before 5.4, it was a syntax error.

<= 5.3

    $foo = array(....);
    echo $foo[1];

>= 5.4

    echo array(...)[1];

answered Jan 14 '14 at 15:36

Marc B

1

was going to post the same; please add: http://www.php.net/manual/en/migration54.new-features.php – Luceos Jan 14 '14 at 15:37

1 Answers1