PHP: Using spaces in associative array indices

Question

Is this bad practice/can cause problems?

$_SESSION[\'stuff to keep\']

As opposed to calling str_replace() on the indices.

Answer 1

You can do that, it'll work -- and even if I don't generally do it when I set the keys of my arrays "by hand", it sometimes happens when I get the keys from a file (for instance), and I've never had any problem with this.

Maybe this could cause some kind of a problem if you are using the extract functions, though. If it creates variables with spaces in their names (don't know if it will) it'll be difficult (but not impossible) to access your variables.

Answer 2

This is bad practice, but not because of the space.

// file foo.php
$_SESSION['stuff to keep'] = 42;

// file bar.php
if ($_SESSION['stufft o keep'] == 42) frobnicate();

Here, your code is silently misbehaving, and the bug can take a while to be found. Good practice is to use a PHP-enforced name, such as a class constant:

$_SESSION[Stuff::TO_KEEP] = 42;

if($_SESSION[Stuff::TOO_KEEP] == 42) 
// error: no constant TOO_KEEP in class Stuff

You may then define that constant to any constant you find interesting or readable, such as "stuff to keep" (with spaces). Of course, extract() and casting to object won't work anymore, but you shouldn't be doing that anyway with your session.

Allowing user-entered text into session keys is, of course, a blatant security fault.

Answer 3

It won't cause a problem, but array keys are usually considered like variable names so should be chosen with the same considerations

Answer 4

Seems like adding unnecessary whitespace in my opinion... I don't usually use spaces. If you do, though, make sure you quote the array keys.