RFC Tracker

Adds path segment accessors to the URI extension so paths no longer need splitting by hand.

Adds a #[\NonExhaustive] attribute that marks an enum as likely to gain cases, so code matching on it knows to handle unknown ones.

Adds FILTER_VALIDATE_STRLEN to validate string length in UTF-8 code points.

Lets __sleep() return null or nothing, so it runs as a pre-serialization hook and the engine then serializes the object as usual.

Adds a #[\NotSerializable] attribute that makes the engine refuse to serialize() or unserialize() instances of a class.

Adds array_search_range() to search for a value within a slice of an array.

Adds a |>= operator so $x |>= trim(...) pipes a variable through a function and assigns the result back.

Function autoloading modeled on class autoloading, with no cost to calls that resolve normally.

Requires autoconf 2.71 to build PHP 8.6 from git, and MySQL 5.7.3 or MariaDB 10.2.4 for persistent connections.

Speeds up asymmetric visibility by resolving read and write access separately instead of re-checking on every write.

Lets readonly properties declare default values, so a class can meet a get-only interface property with a fixed value.

Lets you write, unset and increment properties on an object held by a constant, like OBJ->prop = 1, which was a fatal error before.

Deprecates 31 features in PHP 8.6 for removal in PHP 9, including return in finally blocks, is_double() and spl_object_hash().

Adds a Time\Duration class that stores stopwatch-style time with nanosecond precision, for timeouts and delays instead of bare ints or floats.

Lets the #[\Override] attribute go on class constants and enum cases, so PHP errors if nothing is actually being overridden.

Adds Locale::getDisplayKeyword() and Locale::getDisplayKeywordValue() to show locale keywords and their values in a human language.

Adds URI builder classes, URI and host type detection, and component-aware percent-encoding functions to the ext/uri classes.

Adds an Io\Poll API to PHP core that uses epoll, kqueue and other system backends, a faster, scalable alternative to stream_select().

Adds an error_include_args INI setting that shows the actual arguments passed to a built-in function in its warnings and errors.

Deprecates returning a value, or using yield, in __construct() and __destruct(), while a bare return; stays legal.