What’s New in PHP 8.4? Explore Enhanced String Functions, HTML5 DOM, and More
PHP 8.4, slated for a November 2024 release, introduces enhanced multibyte string functions, HTML5‑aware DOM extensions, stronger password hashing, property hooks, parenthesis‑free method calls, JIT configuration changes, and deprecates implicit nullable types, offering developers a more powerful and secure platform.
PHP 8.4 Release Overview
PHP 8.4 is scheduled for release on 21 November 2024 and brings a suite of enhancements aimed at smoother, safer, and more efficient development.
Enhanced Multibyte String Functions
The update adds functions such as mb_ucfirst, mb_lcfirst, mb_trim, mb_ltrim and mb_rtrim to improve handling of multibyte strings.
echo mb_ucfirst("translation"); // outputs: "Translation"DOM Extension Supports HTML5
The DOM extension now includes HTML5 parsing and serialization via the new DOM\HTMLDocument class.
use DOM\HTMLDocument;
$htmlDocument = HTMLDocument::createFromString('<!DOCTYPE html><html><body>Hello, HTML5!</body></html>');Stronger Password Hashing
The default bcrypt cost is increased from 10 to 12, raising the computational effort required to crack hashes.
Property Hooks
Inspired by Kotlin and C#, property hooks let developers override default get and set behavior for class properties, reducing boilerplate getters and setters.
class BookViewModel
{
public function __construct(
private array $authors,
) {}
public string $credits {
get {
return implode(', ', array_map(
fn (Author $author) => $author->name,
$this->authors,
));
}
}
public Author $mainAuthor {
set (Author $mainAuthor) {
$this->authors[] = $mainAuthor;
$this->mainAuthor = $mainAuthor;
}
get => $this->mainAuthor;
}
}No‑Parentheses Method Calls
Method calls can now be written without surrounding parentheses, and the same syntax works for property, static method, and constant access.
$name = new ReflectionClass($objectOrClass)->getShortName();JIT Configuration Changes
JIT can be disabled with opcache.jit=disable. To enable JIT, both opcache.jit and opcache.jit_buffer_size must be set, e.g., opcache.jit=64m. Additional performance and memory improvements are also included.
Deprecation of Implicit Nullable Types
Implicitly nullable parameters like function save(Book $book = null) {} are deprecated; the explicit nullable type ?Book must be used.
function save(?Book $book = null) {}Conclusion
PHP 8.4 delivers significant upgrades—from multibyte string handling and HTML5 DOM support to stronger password hashing and property hooks—making PHP development more powerful and secure. Teams should start planning integration before the official launch.
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