Re: Re: [RFC] Add pack()/unpack() support for signed integers with specific endianness

From: Date: Mon, 03 Nov 2025 17:50:15 +0000
Subject: Re: Re: [RFC] Add pack()/unpack() support for signed integers with specific endianness
References: 1 2 3 4 5 6  Groups: php.internals 
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On 03/11/2025 18:33, Rob Landers wrote:
> Please don’t do this.
> 
> For those of us using pack()/unpack(), I don’t really care how much like or unlike Perl it
> is, and having to switch strings based on php version because someone wanted it like Perl sounds
> like a special kind of hell. It’s already tricky enough to get pack/unpack right when dealing with
> binary data and having to do it twice plus maintain two different versions of the same string… no
> thank you.

AFAIU the old way of doing things won't break with Tim's suggestion. So there's no
need to switch strings.
It just adds the possibility of using <>.
I agree it's already tricky enough to get things right, which is _exactly_ why Tim's
approach is the right one. Instead of adding more arbitrarily chosen letters we now have a more
meaningful way to indicate endianness. It also is proven by Tim's patch that this isn't
hard to achieve. While implementation-wise adding some more letters is easier, Tim's patch
isn't really difficult anyway.
I will vote against the RFC in its current form in favor of Tim's approach.

Kind regards
Niels


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