unfuck.php

project:	unfuck.php
Author:	meisterluk
Date:	since 2011, updates {12.09.10, 12.02.19}
Version:	beta
license:	Emailware
Version:	1.0

Whenever you have to yell “Fuck off, PHP!” this set of snippets will help you to unfuck PHP. It supports you in avoiding bullshitty php code. Grab any code you like.

Goals

I dislike PHP. But I have some legacy code I have to deal with. Therefore I wrote some snippets I can easily copy and paste to my source code and make PHP better. The unfuck.php file focuses on the following things:

Enforce basic Unicode support.
Provide missing stdlib functions and classes.
Dealing with php's buggy type system.
Provide a good sanitization mechanism.

Future ideas

ltrim and rtrim might be a good idea
If identifier is defined in various contexts, take the value which matches the supplied rule.

Properties

Requires PHP version ≥ 5.
The unfuck.tests.php file provides an exhaustive set of unittests.
The implementation works with error_reporting(E_ALL | E_STRICT); the most restrictive error reporting.
The implementation does not focus on performance, but stability and the principle of least astonishment.
Even though components depend on each other [0], the idea is to extract any source code you want to use.

[0]	For example, the `Notifications` class uses the `Stack` class. The `Sanitizor` uses the `isEmpty` function.

Tutorial

Have you ever thought about brainfucks like this?

php > $a = '0'; var_dump(empty($a));
true
php > $a = '00'; var_dump(empty($a));
false

unfuck.php provides an isEmpty function which is an type safe alternative. Furthermore isEmpty is a function does allow constants as parameter:

php > var_dump(empty(''));
PHP Parse error:  syntax error, unexpected T_CONSTANT_ENCAPSED_STRING in Command line code on line 1
php > var_dump(isEmpty(""));
bool(true)
php > var_dump(isEmpty("0"));
bool(false)

Other useful functions are the blacklist and whitelist functions:

php > $settings = array("pwd" => "lock4351", "user" => "foobar", "debug" => true);
php > var_dump(whitelist($settings, array("pwd", "user")));
array(2) {
  ["pwd"]=>
  string(8) "lock4351"
  ["user"]=>
  string(6) "foobar"
}

For any further documentation or other example refer to the inline documentation or the testsuite.

Stack

A stack is data structure which is known for its operations push and pop which works with elements in a LIFO principle:

php > $stack = new Stack();
php > $stack->push(4);
php > $stack->push(2);
php > foreach ($stack->iterate() as $value) { echo $value; }
42
php > $stack->pop();
2
php > $stack->count();
1

The constructor of the Stack class takes two optional arguments: A max_size and order. The maximum size allows to specify a maximum size for the stack:

php > $stack = new Stack(1);
php > $stack->push(4);
php > $stack->push(2);'
PHP Fatal error:  Uncaught exception 'OverflowException' with message ' [size 2 > 1] Failed to push value'

You might be wondering why iteration over a stack (LIFO principle) returns the elements in order of pushing. This is due to the compatibility of the stack to an array. The Stack class provides almost operations on stacks which are available for arrays in the standard library. This includes count, pad, reverse, sort and unique. Using those functions you can access several elements of the stack at the same time; a behavior typically not available for stacks. However, unfuck.php provides a mechanism to achieve real stack feeling: The order parameter:

php > $stack = new Stack(Stack::INFINITE_SIZE, Stack::ORDER_STACK);
php > $stack->push(4);
php > $stack->push(2);
php > foreach ($stack->iterate() as $value) { echo $value; }
24
php > var_dump($stack->pop());
int(2)
php > var_dump($stack->count());
int(1)
php > var_dump($stack->slice(0, 2)));
array(2) {
  [0]=>
  int(2)
  [1]=>
  int(4)
}

The default parameter of order is set to ORDER_LIST:

php > $stack = new Stack();
php > $stack->push(4);
php > $stack->push(2);
php > var_dump($stack->slice(0, 2));
array(2) {
  [0]=>
  int(4)
  [1]=>
  int(2)
}

It's even more stack-like if elements are popping off the stack during the iteration:

php > $stack = new Stack(Stack::INFINITE_SIZE, Stack::ORDER_STACK);
php > $stack->push(4);
php > $stack->push(2);
php > foreach ($stack->iteratePopping() as $value) { echo $value; }
24
php > $stack->count();
0

Sanitizor

The Sanitizor class provides a beautiful implementation for sanitizing parameters. It's the main reason for me to develop and use unfuck.php. It serves as an abstraction of PHP5's filter module. The main idea to specify contexts as data sources (they default to the superglobals) and add rules to specify the desired layout/type of the parameter in the source. If you need some kind of post processing for the value (eg. strtoupper) you can apply filters. Hooks are also available and described below. Let's take an example:

php > $sani = new Sanitizor();
php > $sani->clearContexts();
php > $sani->addContext(array('page' => 'Main'));
php > var_dump($sani->getParameter('page'));
Main

I guess you will use the Sanitizor in a webserver environment later on and therefore the superglobals ($_GET, $_POST, etc) are loaded automatically. For demonstration purposes we don't want this and therefore clearContexts() is called which removes all defined contexts. We add another context (which is always a associative array) and request the parameter page. Because page is defined in some context and no further contexts and filters are specified, it will be returned immediately. Now we define our first rule:

php > $sani = new Sanitizor();
php > $sani->clearContexts();
php > $sani->addContext(array('page' => 'Main'));
php > $sani->addRule('page', Sanitizor::TYPE_STRING, 'Hello World');
php > var_dump($sani->getParameter('page'));
string(4) "Main"
php > $sani->removeRule('page');
php > $sani->addRule('page', Sanitizor::TYPE_INTEGER, 42);
php > var_dump($sani->getParameter('page'));
int(42)
php > var_dump($sani->getValidity('page'));
bool(false)
php > var_dump($sani->get('page'));
array(2) {
  [0]=>
  bool(false)
  [1]=>
  int(42)
}

First of all we have the same definition like in the previous example, but provide a rule for the parameter page. It requires the parameter to be a string and defines the default value 'Hello World' it the type is not matched. Here page is a string and therefore returned directly. Now we want to investigate the behavior if the type does not match. We remove the previous rule and provide a new one. Now page has to be an integer and our default value is 42. As far as page found in the context is not an integer [1], the default value will be used. You can determine whether or not the parameter is a “valid” value (meaning it was found in some context) by the getValidity($identifier) method. You can also use get($identifier) to retrieve an array with the elements validity and parameter.

I would also like to show you an example for applying a filter:

php > $sani = new Sanitizor();
php > $sani->clearContexts();
php > $sani->addContext(array('page' => 'Main'));
php > $sani->addRule('page', Sanitizor::TYPE_STRING, 'Hello World');
php > var_dump($sani->getParameter('page'));
string(4) "Main"
php > $sani->addFilter('page', array('lower'));
php > var_dump($sani->getParameter('page'));
string(4) "main"

You can register custom filters as well:

php > $sani = new Sanitizor();
php > $sani->clearContexts();
php > $sani->addContext(array('page' => 'Main'));
php > $sani->addRule('page', Sanitizor::TYPE_STRING, 'Hello World');
php > function custom_filter($value, $parameters=NULL) { return array(true, $value.'42'); }
php > $sani->registerFilter('custom', 'custom_filter'); // (name, callback)
php > $sani->addFilter('page', array('custom'));
php > var_dump($sani->get('page'));
array(2) {
  [0]=>
  bool(true)
  [1]=>
  string(6) "Main42"
}

If the default value is not provided and/or the parameter is not given in any context, the triggered behavior is difficult to explain. For example it depends on the configuration variables use_defaults_invalid and use_defaults_undefined. We need a flow chart for this:

This means the returned parameter is one of the following values:

context[identifier]
context[identifier] after applying a filter
the default value of a rule
the default value for this type defined by the rule
NULL

[1]	Please also recognize that the Sanitizor does not look for some integer page in various contexts but uses the first page value that can be found.

Sanitizor's Hooks

Hooks make it possible to modify data if certain conditions are met. As an example they provide a powerful mechanism to modify the result for a certain identifier.

They are called during the evaluation and can be overwritten by inheritance of the Sanitizor class. See the flow chart above to find out when a certain hook will be triggered and check out the test suite to find out how to use them.

Installation

Install the user.ini according to the PHP Manual.
Copy&Paste or include source code of unfuck.php.
Watch out for @config directives in unfuck.php where you should adjust configuration variables to your own needs.

Please stop using PHP. Every time you write php code little kittens die.

greets, meisterluk

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