PHP 7.3.0 has been released – get it from Combell now!

Once again, Combell has proven its ability to monitor the evolution of technology and to offer new products to its customers as soon as they are available. On 6 December 2018, version 7.3.0 of the scripting language PHP was released, and you could activate it on your Linux hosting the same day. But let us have a quick look at the new features...

What is new in PHP 7.3?

PHP forms the basis of many content management systems, including WordPress and Magento, the world's most widely used framework for developing online stores. PHP is a server-side programming and scripting language, which means that the calculations are performed on the server of your hosting. This is in contrast to JavaScript, for example, where calculations are performed in the visitor's browser. Speed in performing these calculations on the server and in transmitting the output to the visitor's browser is therefore absolutely crucial!

Activate PHP 7.3.0 in your Combell control panel now – it is 31% faster than PHP 7.0! 

A more flexible syntax for heredoc and nowdoc

The syntax for heredoc and nowdoc is now more flexible. Both are methods used to define a string (a block of text) in PHP. And both require a strict syntax: nowdocs have a string between two single quotes (') and heredocs between two double quotes ("). In this new version, it is no longer required to end the string and then insert a semicolon (;) or start a new line. This was indeed very frustrating for many developers, as it made their code difficult to read.

New API for PCRE and better support of LDAP

Furthermore, the Perl Compatible Regular Expressions library (PCRE) was updated to version PCRE2. PCRE is a library of regular expressions – a sequence of characters that form a search pattern. These are then used in “search” or “search and replace” operations on strings, or for input validation. The PCRE2 is a redesigned API for the PCRE library, which is easier to expand and automatically optimises patterns.

And last but not least, there is now also enhanced support for LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol). This is a software protocol that helps locate organisations, individuals, files and devices within a network – be it the Internet or a corporate network. This also facilitates authentication.

Together, these updates bring a significant increase in speed: PHP 7.3 is almost 10% faster than version 7.2, while it is 31% faster than PHP 7.0 and almost three times faster than PHP 5.6!

For a complete list of all changes, please refer to the PHP 7.3 release document.

PHP 7.3.0 can be activated on your Combell hosting now!

Combell is already offering this stable version of PHP 7.3.0. And you can very easily enable this new version in my.combell.com. In your control panel, go to My Products > Web hosting and click on Hosting Details. In the PHP section, click on PHP settings and select version 7.3.0 from the drop-down menu next to ‘Version’ under the ‘General’ tab. And you are done!

Find out more about Combell’s PHP hosting