mb_regex_set_options never had eval option?

[afilina]

• PHP 7.1: Eval option deprecated in mb_ereg_replace and mb_eregi_replace (RFC).
• PHP 8.0: Eval option removed, but also throws a ValueError with mb_regex_set_options (not documented, AFAIK).

However, when trying to set e using mb_regex_set_options in versions where it was still allegedly supported, it seems to have no effect.

// In PHP 5.0 through 7.4, this returns ixplnr, without e
var_dump(mb_regex_set_options('ixplner')); 
// this does not have the eval effect
var_dump(mb_ereg_replace('(h)', 'strtoupper("\\1")', 'hello', null)); 

Result in all versions: https://3v4l.org/pXd41G

Was eval ever a thing with mb_regex_set_options? Should I update the docs to reflect reality, or am I missing something?

[damianwadley]

At least as of 7.4, the "e" option only worked when passed during a call to mb_ereg(i)_replace. It was not a persistent setting like the others (very sensibly so, I would say) and thus doesn't do anything if provided to mb_regex_set_options. That's also why you don't see it returned after the set.

The documentation overall isn't covering "e" very well - not just with mb_regex_set_options but the other affected functions too. In summary,

• "e" was deprecated in 7.4 and removed with 8.0
• Since 8.0, unrecognized options passed to any of the functions results in a ValueError
• "e" worked only with mb_ereg_replace and mb_eregi_replace, and did nothing when passed to other functions

[afilina]

Thank you for the reply. If I understand correctly, "e" is documented on the mb_regex_set_options page, but in reality, it's only an option that could be set via the options argument of the mb_ereg(i)_replace functions. That is, until it got removed in 8.0. Correct?

[damianwadley]

Correct, in that you could set "e" however it wouldn't have any effect. Because the same code was (and still is) being used to support the options when they're passed to mb_regex_set_options as well as to mb_ereg(i)_replace and a couple other functions too.
With the removal of "e" in 8.0, all of the functions now behave the same way and support the same options.