PHP 8.5 introduces various quality improvements, including a pipe operator and a modern URL parser.
PHP 8.5 has been released, and this version brings a notable number of improvements that make the popular web language more future-proof. The update not only introduces a long-awaited pipe operator but also a modern way to process web addresses.
More Organized Code
The biggest innovation is the new pipe operator, a way to execute operations in sequence without intermediate variables or complex nested functions. This makes code more readable, shorter, and more logically structured. The concept already exists in other programming languages and tools, and PHP is now following suit. Developers can work faster and maintain their code more easily.
Also new is a URL parser. Until now, PHP used an outdated function that wasn’t always reliable with ‘unusual’ or incorrect web addresses. The new parser follows international standards and provides a much more robust foundation for everything related to web addresses, from routing to API calls.
Minor Improvements Complete the Update
Additionally, PHP 8.5 brings several quality improvements, such as more efficient object copying, better warnings when important results are ignored, and optimizations for commonly used internet functions like Curl.
PHP remains the engine behind WordPress, among others, still powering about 43 percent of all websites, but the language’s popularity has been declining for several years. With PHP 8.5, the community shows that the language continues to evolve.