PHP Compatibility

Baseline: PHP 8.5.10 (CLI snapshot of 2026-09-04, 68 extensions, 2169 functions, 329 classes, 3180 constants).

Overall coverage: functions 883 / 2169 (41%), classes 142 / 329 (43%), constants 1094 / 3180 (34%).

Coverage by PHP module

Each cell counts the PHP-visible symbols a compiled elephc program has, against the symbols the module exposes in the baseline build. Any compile-time route counts once (registry builtin, injected prelude, name-resolver rewrite); symbols that exist only inside eval() are listed separately below. — marks a kind the module does not have.

PHP module	Functions	Classes	Constants
bcmath	14 / 14 · 100%	0 / 1 · 0%	—
bz2	0 / 10 · 0%	—	—
calendar	18 / 18 · 100%	—	21 / 21 · 100%
core	29 / 62 · 47%	21 / 40 · 52%	34 / 89 · 38%
ctype	4 / 11 · 36%	—	—
curl	34 / 35 · 97%	6 / 6 · 100%	689 / 689 · 100%
date	48 / 48 · 100%	15 / 15 · 100%	3 / 17 · 18%
dba	0 / 15 · 0%	0 / 1 · 0%	—
dom	0 / 2 · 0%	0 / 50 · 0%	0 / 61 · 0%
enchant	0 / 25 · 0%	0 / 2 · 0%	0 / 3 · 0%
exif	4 / 4 · 100%	—	1 / 1 · 100%
ffi	—	0 / 5 · 0%	—
fileinfo	0 / 6 · 0%	0 / 1 · 0%	0 / 11 · 0%
filter	0 / 7 · 0%	0 / 2 · 0%	0 / 56 · 0%
ftp	0 / 36 · 0%	0 / 1 · 0%	0 / 11 · 0%
gd	83 / 106 · 78%	1 / 2 · 50%	67 / 89 · 75%
gettext	0 / 10 · 0%	—	—
gmp	0 / 51 · 0%	0 / 1 · 0%	0 / 9 · 0%
hash	9 / 20 · 45%	1 / 1 · 100%	0 / 40 · 0%
iconv	10 / 10 · 100%	—	4 / 4 · 100%
intl	0 / 187 · 0%	0 / 22 · 0%	0 / 170 · 0%
json	5 / 5 · 100%	2 / 2 · 100%	27 / 29 · 93%
ldap	0 / 55 · 0%	0 / 3 · 0%	0 / 92 · 0%
libxml	0 / 8 · 0%	0 / 1 · 0%	0 / 28 · 0%
mbstring	2 / 65 · 3%	—	0 / 9 · 0%
mysqli	84 / 106 · 79%	4 / 6 · 67%	52 / 110 · 47%
odbc	0 / 48 · 0%	0 / 2 · 0%	0 / 57 · 0%
openssl	4 / 64 · 6%	0 / 3 · 0%	3 / 70 · 4%
pcntl	28 / 28 · 100%	1 / 1 · 100%	0 / 129 · 0%
pcre	5 / 11 · 45%	—	7 / 19 · 37%
pdo	1 / 1 · 100%	4 / 4 · 100%	—
pdo_dblib	—	1 / 1 · 100%	—
pdo_firebird	—	1 / 1 · 100%	—
pdo_mysql	—	1 / 1 · 100%	—
pdo_odbc	—	1 / 1 · 100%	0 / 1 · 0%
pdo_pgsql	—	1 / 1 · 100%	—
pdo_sqlite	—	1 / 1 · 100%	—
pgsql	0 / 123 · 0%	0 / 3 · 0%	0 / 76 · 0%
phar	—	3 / 4 · 75%	—
posix	2 / 41 · 5%	—	0 / 43 · 0%
random	3 / 9 · 33%	0 / 11 · 0%	0 / 2 · 0%
readline	1 / 13 · 8%	—	0 / 1 · 0%
reflection	—	16 / 26 · 62%	—
session	23 / 23 · 100%	4 / 4 · 100%	3 / 3 · 100%
shmop	0 / 6 · 0%	0 / 1 · 0%	—
simplexml	0 / 3 · 0%	0 / 2 · 0%	—
snmp	0 / 24 · 0%	0 / 2 · 0%	0 / 21 · 0%
soap	0 / 2 · 0%	0 / 8 · 0%	0 / 81 · 0%
sockets	0 / 37 · 0%	0 / 2 · 0%	0 / 243 · 0%
sodium	0 / 104 · 0%	0 / 1 · 0%	0 / 94 · 0%
spl	15 / 15 · 100%	54 / 55 · 98%	—
sqlite3	—	0 / 4 · 0%	0 / 12 · 0%
standard	381 / 545 · 70%	2 / 6 · 33%	155 / 400 · 39%
sysvmsg	0 / 7 · 0%	0 / 1 · 0%	0 / 5 · 0%
sysvsem	0 / 4 · 0%	0 / 1 · 0%	—
sysvshm	0 / 7 · 0%	0 / 1 · 0%	—
tidy	0 / 24 · 0%	0 / 2 · 0%	0 / 161 · 0%
tokenizer	0 / 2 · 0%	0 / 1 · 0%	0 / 154 · 0%
uri	—	0 / 9 · 0%	—
xml	22 / 22 · 100%	1 / 1 · 100%	28 / 28 · 100%
xmlreader	—	0 / 1 · 0%	—
xmlwriter	42 / 42 · 100%	1 / 1 · 100%	—
xsl	—	0 / 1 · 0%	0 / 14 · 0%
zend opcache	8 / 8 · 100%	—	—
zip	0 / 10 · 0%	0 / 1 · 0%	—
zlib	4 / 30 · 13%	0 / 2 · 0%	0 / 27 · 0%

The counts above are what a compiled program has. Code run through eval() sees a different set in these modules (compiled / eval()):

• core functions: 29 / 28
• core constants: 34 / 31
• exif functions: 4 / 0
• exif constants: 1 / 0
• gd functions: 83 / 0
• gd constants: 67 / 0
• mysqli functions: 84 / 0
• mysqli constants: 52 / 0
• pdo functions: 1 / 0
• session functions: 23 / 0
• standard functions: 381 / 341
• standard constants: 155 / 134
• zend opcache functions: 8 / 0

3 symbol(s) exist only inside eval() and are not counted in the table: get_called_class(), get_class_methods(), get_class_vars().

The remaining 2 baseline extensions expose no functions, classes, or constants of their own, so they have no row above: lexbor, mysqlnd.

In addition, elephc implements 5 PHP language constructs that PHP does not count as functions: die(), empty(), exit(), isset(), unset().

elephc also defines 1 constant(s) at runtime that PHP registers only in specific states and never lists statically: SID.

elephc also implements 1 symbol(s) that PHP added AFTER this baseline release, so they cannot be counted against it: SortDirection (PHP 8.6).

The baseline PHP build does not expose these platform-dependent symbols, so they are excluded from its coverage percentages: pcntl_getcpu() (PHP build guard HAVE_SCHED_GETCPU), pcntl_getqos_class() (target-specific), pcntl_setns() (PHP build guard HAVE_PIDFD_OPEN), pcntl_setqos_class() (target-specific).

elephc also provides 91 symbols from PECL extensions php-src does not bundle, which the baseline cannot measure: cairo (48 functions, 26 classes), gmagick (6 classes), imagick (10 classes), pdo_ibm (1 classes).

Language constructs

Feature	Status	Notes
Classes & objects (PHP)	✅ Supported
Inheritance, interfaces, abstract classes (PHP)	✅ Supported
Traits (PHP)	✅ Supported
Enums (PHP)	✅ Supported
Anonymous classes (PHP)	✅ Supported
Constructor property promotion (PHP)	✅ Supported
Property hooks (PHP)	✅ Supported
Attributes (PHP)	✅ Supported
Magic methods (PHP)	✅ Supported	See the classes page for the supported set
Static properties, methods, late static binding (PHP)	✅ Supported
Union & intersection types (PHP)	✅ Supported
Closures & arrow functions (PHP)	✅ Supported
First-class callable syntax (PHP)	✅ Supported
Generators (PHP)	✅ Supported	Lowered onto stackful coroutines
Fibers (PHP)	✅ Supported
Exceptions (try / catch / finally) (PHP)	✅ Supported
match expressions (PHP)	✅ Supported
References (&) (PHP)	✅ Supported
Namespaces (PHP)	✅ Supported
include / require (PHP)	✅ Supported	Static, compile-time resolved paths
eval() (PHP)	🟡 Partial	Experimental; embeds an optional interpreter bridge when runtime parsing is required

Extensions

Feature	Status	Notes
PDO (PHP)	✅ Supported	Driver matrix documented on the PDO page
mysqli (PHP)	🟡 Partial	Locked v1 subset over the elephc-pdo bridge; divergences on the mysqli page
Sessions (PHP)	✅ Supported	In —web binaries
Streams (PHP)	🟡 Partial
SPL (PHP)	🟡 Partial
Reflection (PHP)	🟡 Partial
DateTime (PHP)	🟡 Partial
Calendar (PHP)	✅ Supported
iconv (PHP)	✅ Supported
GD / image (PHP)	🟡 Partial	Enabled with —with-image
PCNTL (PHP)	✅ Supported	Target-aware Unix process control; auto-linked or forced with —with-pcntl
XML (PHP)	✅ Supported	ext/xml SAX parser (22 functions, XMLParser, 28 constants) and ext/xmlwriter (42 functions, XMLWriter) on a pinned static libxml2 2.15.3 from the native catalog (elephc native add libxml2); auto-linked or forced with —with-xml, identical inside eval(); the surface is complete, with the runtime’s per-handler-invocation heap cost documented under Runtime limits in docs/php/xml.md
cURL (PHP)	✅ Supported	All 35 functions, 6 classes and 689 constants on a pinned static libcurl 8.21.0; declare the managed curl package (elephc native add curl). 260 of 271 CURLOPT_* implemented, the rest rejected with PHP’s warning. eval() covers the easy, multi and share interfaces. The coverage row counts the 34 shared-contract functions; curl_file_create() is a plain prelude alias of the CURLFile constructor with no registry binding on either backend, so it carries no shared contract and is the one function the row does not count.
OpenSSL (PHP)	🟡 Partial	Encrypt/decrypt subset
OPcache (PHP)	🟡 Partial	Compatibility surface; programs are AOT-compiled, there is no opcode cache

Beyond PHP

elephc-specific builtins with no PHP equivalent (not counted in coverage above):

Builtin	Area	Description
buffer_free()	Buffer	Frees a buffer and nulls the local variable that held it.
buffer_len()	Buffer	Returns the logical element count of a buffer.
class_attribute_args()	Class	Returns the constructor arguments of a named attribute applied to a class.
class_attribute_names()	Class	Returns the list of attribute names applied to a class.
class_get_attributes()	Class	Returns an array of ReflectionAttribute objects for all attributes of a class.
read_exif_data()	Image	Implemented by the compiler-injected image prelude.
clamp()	Math	Clamps a value to be within a specified range. (No PHP equivalent (not in PHP 8.4/8.5))
log2()	Math	Returns the base-2 logarithm of a number. (No PHP equivalent (PHP has log(), log10(), log1p()))
pcntl_daemon()	Misc	Detaches the surviving child into a background daemon process.
buffer_new()	Pointer	Allocates a raw byte buffer.
ptr()	Pointer	Returns a raw pointer to the given variable.
ptr_get()	Pointer	Reads one machine word through a raw pointer and returns it as an integer.
ptr_is_null()	Pointer	Returns true if the pointer is null.
ptr_null()	Pointer	Returns a null raw pointer.
ptr_offset()	Pointer	Returns a new pointer offset from the given pointer by the given byte count.
ptr_read16()	Pointer	Reads one unsigned 16-bit word through a raw pointer and returns it as an integer.
ptr_read32()	Pointer	Reads one unsigned 32-bit word through a raw pointer and returns it as an integer.
ptr_read8()	Pointer	Reads one unsigned byte through a raw pointer and returns it as an integer.
ptr_read_string()	Pointer	Copies raw bytes from a pointer into a PHP string of the given length.
ptr_set()	Pointer	Writes one machine word through a raw pointer.
ptr_sizeof()	Pointer	Returns the byte size of the named pointer target type.
ptr_write16()	Pointer	Writes one 16-bit word through a raw pointer.
ptr_write32()	Pointer	Writes one 32-bit word through a raw pointer.
ptr_write8()	Pointer	Writes one byte through a raw pointer.
ptr_write_string()	Pointer	Copies PHP string bytes into raw memory at the given pointer.
zval_free()	Pointer	Frees a PHP zval pointer allocated by zval_pack.
zval_pack()	Pointer	Packs an elephc runtime value into a heap-allocated PHP zval pointer.
zval_type()	Pointer	Returns the PHP zval type byte for a zval pointer.
zval_unpack()	Pointer	Unpacks a PHP zval pointer into an owned elephc Mixed value.
grapheme_strrev()	String	Reverses a string by grapheme cluster, returning false on failure. (No PHP equivalent (not in PHP 8.4/8.5 intl))
is_real()	Type	Alias of is_float(). (Removed in PHP 8.0; kept as a compatibility alias of is_float())

Classes: DateUnknownException (date), ImageException (gd).

Constants: ARRAY_FILTER_USE_VALUE (standard), MYSQLI_TYPE_VARCHAR (mysqli).

Known limitations

Static subset, AOT only. Ordinary source is compiled ahead of time with no opcode fallback; runtime code loading exists only through the experimental eval() interpreter bridge.

Coverage measured against a pinned baseline. Builtin percentages are computed against the vendored PHP CLI snapshot (version and extension set recorded in the page header). PHP modules outside that snapshot are not counted.

Five native compile targets. Standalone binaries target macOS ARM64, Linux ARM64, and Linux x86_64; macOS also cross-compiles libraries for iOS ARM64 devices and the iOS ARM64 Simulator. PHP itself runs on many more platforms.

A Mixed-sourced object needs explicit narrowing before a typed object parameter. An object pulled out of an array, an array property, or other mixed-typed storage is rejected at a class-typed call parameter until an instanceof guard narrows it; PHP would defer that check to runtime. Once narrowed, elephc unboxes the object and passes it correctly. The curl multi wrappers accept mixed plus a runtime guard because curl_multi_info_read() returns its handle inside an array and canonical callers do not add a separate narrowing guard. Pinned by test_mixed_sourced_object_through_typed_param_is_unboxed.