Deprecated features in PHP 5.3.x

PHP 5.3.0 introduces two new error levels: E_DEPRECATED and E_USER_DEPRECATED. The E_DEPRECATED error level is used to indicate that a function or feature has been deprecated. The E_USER_DEPRECATED level is intended for indicating deprecated features in user code, similarly to the E_USER_ERROR and E_USER_WARNING levels.

The following is a list of deprecated INI directives. Use of any of these INI directives will cause an E_DEPRECATED error to be thrown at startup.

define_syslog_variables
register_globals
register_long_arrays
safe_mode
magic_quotes_gpc
magic_quotes_runtime
magic_quotes_sybase
Comments starting with '#' are now deprecated in .INI files.

Deprecated functions:

call_user_method() (use call_user_func() instead)
call_user_method_array() (use call_user_func_array() instead)
define_syslog_variables()
dl()
ereg() (use preg_match() instead)
ereg_replace() (use preg_replace() instead)
eregi() (use preg_match() with the 'i' modifier instead)
eregi_replace() (use preg_replace() with the 'i' modifier instead)
mcrypt_generic_end()
set_magic_quotes_runtime() and its alias, magic_quotes_runtime()
session_register() (use the $_SESSION superglobal instead)
session_unregister() (use the $_SESSION superglobal instead)
session_is_registered() (use the $_SESSION superglobal instead)
set_socket_blocking() (use stream_set_blocking() instead)
split() (use preg_split() instead)
spliti() (use preg_split() with the 'i' modifier instead)
sql_regcase()
mysql_db_query() (use mysql_select_db() and mysql_query() instead)
mysql_escape_string() (use mysql_real_escape_string() instead)
Passing locale category names as strings is now deprecated. Use the LC_* family of constants instead.
The is_dst parameter to mktime(). Use the new timezone handling functions instead.

Deprecated features:

Assigning the return value of new by reference is now deprecated.
Call-time pass-by-reference is now deprecated.

User Contributed Notes

shad at shartley dot net

5 years ago


Correction on my previous note.

sed -i 's/\$HTTP_\(.*\)_VARS/\$_\1/g' {} \;

will screw up multiple instances of $HTTP_*_VARS in the file.

You'll have to use an instance of sed like:

sed -i 's/\$HTTP_SERVER_VARS/\$_SERVER/g'
i.e.
find ./ -name "*.php" -exec sed -i 's/\$HTTP_POST_VARS/\$_POST/g' {} \;
find ./ -name "*.php" -exec sed -i 's/\$HTTP_GET_VARS/\$_GET/g' {} \;
...

for each of the deprecated variables you might have in your files.

It also occurred to me a simple php conversion script would also work:

$search=array(
    "/HTTP_SERVER_VARS/",
    "/HTTP_POST_VARS/",
    "/HTTP_ENV_VARS/",
    "/HTTP_GET_VARS/",
    "/HTTP_COOKIE_VARS/",
    "/HTTP_SESSION_VARS/",
    "/HTTP_POST_FILES/");
$replace=array(
    "_SERVER",
     "_POST",
    "_ENV",
    "_GET",
    "_COOKIES",
    "_SESSION","_FILES");
$content=file_get_contents("somefile.php");
$content=preg_replace($search,$replace,$content);
file_put_contents("somefile.php",$content);

add directory recursion functions, ect.

Anonymous

6 years ago


A backward compatibility break which is not documented:

Fatal error: Uncaught exception 'RuntimeException' with message 'Directory name must not be empty.'

This happens with new RecursiveIteratorIterator( new RecursiveDirectoryIterator( $staticPath ) )

shad at shartley dot net

5 years ago


If you previously defined register_long_arrays in php.ini and have a lot of code with $HTTP_*_VARS that need to be replaced the following may help on *.nix systems:

sed -i 's/\$HTTP_\(.*\)_VARS/\$_\1/g' filename.php

What this command does is replace all occurrences of $HTTP_*_VARS with their respective $_ counter parts, e.g. $HTTP_COOKIES_VAR to $_COOKIES

To replace alot of files, you might combine it with the find command:  
find ./ -name "*.php" -exec sed -i 's/\$HTTP_\(.*\)_VARS/\$_\1/g' {} \;

For other deprecated variables like $HTTP_POST_FILES change your sed arguments:

sed -i 's/\$HTTP_POST_FILES/\$_FILES/g'

Deprecated variables created by the register_long_arrays directive as far as I know are:
$_POST
$_GET
$_SERVER
$_ENV
$_COOKIE
$_SESSION