New in PHP 8! 𝐒𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐲 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐂𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫

The Nullsafe operator, introduced in PHP 8.0, is a game-changer for handling nullable properties and method calls more gracefully. It allows you to avoid verbose null checks, making your code cleaner and more readable.

Example Tradition Null Check

$userCountry = null;
if ($user !== null) {
   if ($user->getAddress() !== null) {
      $userCountry = $user->getAddress()->getCountry();  
   }
}

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐔𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫?

✅ 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬: Reduces the amount of boilerplate code required for null checks.
✅ 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲: Makes your code more readable and expressive, clearly showing the intent of handling nullable values.
✅ 𝐒𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐲: Helps avoid null dereference errors in a more elegant way, ensuring your code handles potential null values seamlessly.

Nullsafe implementation

$userCountry = $user?->getAddress()?->getCountry();

Have you started using the Nullsafe operator in your PHP 8 projects? Share your thoughts and experiences!

Comments

[david duymelinck]

Although this is a great feature, using null is considered as a code smell these days.
The main reason that it became a code smell is that php now has return type hinting. And it is better to return a single type instead of multiple.

It is also better to do an early return. so instead of a waterfall of checks just do one check

$userCountry = $user !== null && $user->getAddress() !== null ? $user->getCountry() : '';

[Irpan Abdul Rahman]

Thank you @xwero You raise valid points regarding the use of null and the importance of return type hinting in PHP. I agree that returning a single type and utilizing early returns can lead to cleaner and more maintainable code