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PHP 8.3 New Features

Official Documentation: PHP 8.3 Release

1. Typed Class Constants​

Class constants can now have type declarations.

class User {
    const string ROLE = 'admin';
}

2. Dynamic Class Constant Fetch​

Simplified syntax for fetching class constants dynamically.

$searchable = 'ROLE';
echo User::{$searchable};

3. #[Override] Attribute​

Ensures that a method with the same name exists in a parent class or interface. It helps catch typos during refactoring.

class ParentClass {
    public function sayHello() {}
}

class ChildClass extends ParentClass {
    #[Override]
    public function sayHello() {} // OK
}

4. Deep Cloning of Readonly Properties​

Allows modification of readonly properties once within the __clone() magic method.

readonly class User {
    public function __construct(public DateTime $date) {}
    public function __clone() {
        $this->date = clone $this->date; // Allowed in 8.3
    }
}

5. json_validate() function​

Checks if a string is a valid JSON without decoding it (uses less memory).

if (json_validate($jsonString)) {
    // string is valid JSON
}

6. Randomizer Improvements​

  • New Randomizer::getBytesFromString()
  • New Randomizer::getFloat()
  • New Randomizer::nextFloat()