Array variable shorthand proposal
Under discussion; proposed for PHP 8.7. The current RFC spelling is =$name in
array construction and destructuring, representing the explicit key/value form
"name" => $name. It applies to [], array() and list().
The earlier :$name spelling was changed because of interaction with ternary syntax.
Direct variable names qualify; arbitrary expressions, properties and array dimensions do
not. Function-argument shorthand is outside the proposal. The primary page explicitly says
that voting has not started.
This is a proposal, not supported stable PHP syntax. Recheck the primary RFC before repeating examples or status.
Related: IO hooks proposal, type declaration milestones.