2.6: Per-function state and native bytea

PL/php 2.6.0 brings the two remaining PL/Python-parity features.

Added

• Private per-function data: $_SD. Each function now has an $_SD
  associative array that persists across calls to that function within a
  session and is private to it, the per-function counterpart to the
  session-global $_SHARED. Together they mirror PL/Python's SD and GD.
  $_SD starts empty and resets when the function is redefined. The usual use
  is caching a prepared plan once per session without crowding the shared
  namespace.

• bytea transform (bytea_plphp). A new CREATE EXTENSION bytea_plphp
  adds TRANSFORM FOR TYPE bytea, mapping a bytea to a raw, binary-safe PHP
  string (the bytes themselves, not the \x... text form) and back, mirroring
  PL/Python's bytea <-> bytes. Embedded NUL bytes survive the round trip,
  which the default text path truncates. It applies in nested contexts (a
  bytea column in a composite result, etc.) like the other transforms.

Upgrading

ALTER EXTENSION plphp UPDATE; moves an existing install to 2.6. $_SD lives
entirely in the C module, so there is no SQL-level change. Install
bytea_plphp separately with CREATE EXTENSION bytea_plphp CASCADE.

Verified across the PG 11-18 x PHP 8.1-8.4 CI matrix plus an AddressSanitizer
build; hstore_plphp and bytea_plphp are now covered by CI alongside
jsonb_plphp.

2.5: Transforms, triggers, and structured errors

PL/php 2.5.0 closes the remaining gaps against PL/Ruby: transforms now reach nested contexts, triggers cover TRUNCATE and INSTEAD OF, pg_raise carries structured error fields, and domains over arrays and composites work. Upgrade with ALTER EXTENSION plphp UPDATE.

Added

• hstore transform (hstore_plphp). A new CREATE EXTENSION hstore_plphp
  adds TRANSFORM FOR TYPE hstore, mapping an hstore to a PHP associative
  array of string keys to string-or-null values and back (a PHP null value
  becomes an hstore NULL). Companion to the existing jsonb_plphp.
• Transforms reach nested contexts. A declared jsonb/hstore transform
  now also applies to values of that type inside composite argument/result
  fields, RETURNS SETOF/return_next rows, and a trigger's $_TD rows
  (including the 'MODIFY' return), not only as top-level arguments and
  results. Rows read back through SPI are still left in text form.
• Structured pg_raise. pg_raise(level, message [, detail [, hint [, sqlstate]]]) now attaches DETAIL, HINT and (for ERROR) a custom
  SQLSTATE, mirroring PL/pgSQL's RAISE ... USING. The fields are readable
  on a caught PgError and survive an uncaught error out to the client.
• TRUNCATE and INSTEAD OF triggers. Statement-level TRUNCATE triggers
  ($_TD['event'] = 'TRUNCATE') and view INSTEAD OF triggers
  ($_TD['when'] = 'INSTEAD OF') are now supported; previously the handler
  errored on the unrecognized event/timing.
• Domains over arrays and composites. A function argument or result typed
  as a domain is now handled as its base type, so a domain over an array
  arrives as a PHP array (and can be returned as one) and a domain over a
  composite as an associative array. The domain's CHECK constraints are
  still enforced on results. Scalar domains were already transparent.
• Project logo and brand assets. Light/dark PL/php logos and a square icon
  under doc/assets/, wired into the README and language reference.

Fixed

• Uncaught database errors lost their SQLSTATE, DETAIL and HINT. An error
  that unwound to the top of a PL/php call was reported with only its message
  (and SQLSTATE XX000); it now carries the original SQLSTATE, DETAIL and
  HINT through the zend_bailout reporting path.

2.4: Records, contexts, and receipts

PL/php 2.4.0 finishes the structural-conversion work, improves diagnostics, fixes a crash, and publishes performance numbers.

Added

• Structural composite conversion. Composite columns in rows, fields of composite arguments, and composites inside arrays arrive as associative PHP arrays, recursively. The reverse works the same way: return values, return_next rows, OUT arguments, and trigger MODIFY fields accept nested PHP arrays for composite slots.
• Error CONTEXT lines. Messages raised while PL/php code runs carry CONTEXT: PL/php function "name" (with anonymous-block and compilation variants), matching the other procedural languages.
• Per-function memory contexts. A compiled function's descriptor and its subsidiary data are freed as a unit on redefinition.
• anycompatible and anycompatiblearray accepted on PostgreSQL 13 and newer.
• ASAN in CI. A workflow job builds with AddressSanitizer and runs the suite against a libasan-preloaded server.
• A benchmark suite (bench/run.sh) with published results (doc/benchmarks.md): within a few percent of PL/pgSQL on scalar and string work, 1.75x PL/Perl on SPI row loops.

Fixed

• Backend crash when an error crossed nested PL/php calls. A PostgreSQL error unwinding out of a handler's zend_try left Zend's bailout environment pointing into a dead stack frame; the next uncaught error jumped into garbage. Present since the zend_try blocks were introduced.
• The use-after-free window in function recompilation (the cache briefly pointed at freed memory).

Upgrading

ALTER EXTENSION plphp UPDATE (no SQL-level changes; install the new plphp.so).

Tested on PostgreSQL 11 through 18 with PHP 8.1 through 8.4: all 23 regression tests plus the jsonb_plphp suite pass on every version, validated by the 12-job CI matrix.

See CHANGELOG.md for details.

2.3: Arrays all the way down

PL/php 2.3.0 — now with continuous integration: every change in this release (and every future PR) is validated by an 11-job matrix covering PostgreSQL 11–18 and PHP 8.1–8.4.

Added

• VARIADIC parameters — the collected arguments arrive as a single PHP array, like every other PL (VARIADIC "any" is rejected with a clear error).
• PHP 8.1 through 8.4 support — previously only 8.3 was tested; the documented range is now 8.1–8.4, with version guards where the Zend API changed.
• CI — GitHub Actions matrix running the full core + jsonb_plphp suites.

Changed

• Array columns inside rows are PHP arrays. An array-typed column in $_TD['new']/['old'], in rows from spi_fetch_row/spi_fetchrow, or in a composite argument's fields used to arrive as its literal text form ({a,b}); it is now a real PHP array, and converts back when assigned (e.g. trigger MODIFY). Code that string-parsed those values should use the array directly.
• Hardened against host php.ini. PL/php now forces the error-reporting settings it depends on, disables opcache/JIT (useless for one-shot eval'd functions), neutralizes xdebug, and re-asserts its error callback on every call — messages and notices no longer depend on how the host's PHP happens to be configured.

Upgrading

ALTER EXTENSION plphp UPDATE (no SQL-level changes; install the new plphp.so).

See CHANGELOG.md for details.

2.2: Catch me if you can

PL/php 2.2.0 goes beyond PL/Perl and PL/Tcl parity — and fixes three long-standing bugs along the way.

Added

• Catchable database errors. Every database error from an SPI call is thrown as a PgError exception with getSQLState(), getDetail(), and getHint() — PL/Perl's eval-trappable model with PL/Tcl's rich error info. pg_raise('error')/elog('ERROR') throw PgError with SQLSTATE P0001. Uncaught errors report exactly as before.
• jsonb_plphp — a companion transform extension: with TRANSFORM FOR TYPE jsonb, jsonb arguments arrive as native PHP arrays/ints/floats/bools and PHP values convert straight back. PL/php core gained SQL-standard TRANSFORM FOR TYPE support to power it. (PL/Tcl has no transforms at all.)
• spi_each(query, callable) — streaming per-row callback over a cursor; the inline-loop equivalent of PL/Tcl's spi_exec -array a $query { body }.
• Whole-array set-returning functions — return array($row1, $row2, ...) as an alternative to return_next (PL/Perl's array-reference form; restores 1.x behavior that 2.0 silently broke).
• plphp.on_init — PHP source executed at interpreter initialization, before modules and plphp.start_proc (the counterpart of plperl.on_init).
• A tested cookbook (doc/cookbook.md) — validation constraints, bcrypt, HMAC tokens, JSON reshaping, regex SRFs, an audit trigger, batch commits, streaming scans, CSV/XML shredding, compression — every recipe runs in the regression suite.

Fixed

• Array conversion rewritten in both directions: string elements are properly escaped, null elements map to SQL NULL, and array input is parsed with a real parser instead of zend_eval_string (unquoted text arrays used to crash; data no longer flows through eval()). Array arguments are detected from the declared type, not a "starts with {" guess.
• INOUT parameters in procedures work — CALL p(...) used to fail with "function returning record called in context that cannot accept type record".

Upgrading

ALTER EXTENSION plphp UPDATE (no SQL-level changes; install the new plphp.so). The jsonb transform is a separate CREATE EXTENSION jsonb_plphp CASCADE.

Tested on PostgreSQL 11 through 18 with PHP 8.3 (embed SAPI, NTS): all 23 regression tests plus the jsonb_plphp suite pass on every version.

See CHANGELOG.md for full details.

⚠️ One behavioral note: code using broad catch (\Throwable) blocks will now also catch database errors (PgError); rethrow if you don't intend to handle them.

2.1: Stream, don't materialize

PL/php 2.1.0 closes the last PL/Perl parity gap: cursor-streaming SPI.

Added

• spi_query(query) — opens a cursor and returns its name.
• spi_fetchrow(cursor) — fetches one row at a time as an associative array; returns false and closes the cursor at exhaustion.
• spi_cursor_close(cursor) — abandon a cursor early; harmless on unknown/closed cursors.

Large result sets now scan in constant memory: a 1M-row scan holds the backend at ~34 MB RSS where spi_exec needs ~110 MB.

Changed

• Breaking: spi_query_prepared(plan, args...) now opens a cursor consumed with spi_fetchrow, matching PL/Perl semantics. In 2.0 it was an alias of spi_exec_prepared; code relying on that should call spi_exec_prepared instead.

Upgrading

ALTER EXTENSION plphp UPDATE (a no-op at the SQL level — the new functions live in the C module; install the new plphp.so).

Tested on PostgreSQL 11 through 18 with PHP 8.3 (embed SAPI, NTS): all 18 regression tests pass on every version.

See CHANGELOG.md for details.

2.0: It is about time

[2.0.0] — 2026-07-01

A ground-up modernization of PL/php (the previous release, 1.4, dates from 2010)
for current software. Tested on PostgreSQL 11 through 18 with PHP 8.3
(embed SAPI, non-thread-safe).

Added

• Anonymous DO blocks — DO $$ ... $$ LANGUAGE plphp, via an inline
  handler.
• Event trigger functions — RETURNS event_trigger, with $_TD['event']
  and $_TD['tag'].
• Prepared statements — spi_prepare, spi_exec_prepared,
  spi_query_prepared, and spi_freeplan.
• Transaction control in procedures — spi_commit and spi_rollback.
• Explicit subtransactions — subtransaction(callable, ...).
• Quoting helpers — quote_literal, quote_nullable, quote_ident.
• elog(level, message) supporting DEBUG/LOG/INFO/NOTICE/WARNING/ERROR.
• Session initialization — module autoloading from a plphp_modules table
  and a plphp.start_proc configuration setting.
• Packaging as a first-class extension (CREATE EXTENSION plphp) and a
  regression test for every new feature.
• Documentation: a language reference (doc/plphp.md) and PL/Perl and PL/Tcl
  feature comparisons.

Changed

• Ported the C code to the PostgreSQL 18 API: FunctionCallInfo.args[] (PG 12),
  TupleDescAttr (PG 10), SearchSysCache1, strlcpy, TextDatumGetCString,
  ALLOCSET_DEFAULT_SIZES, uint64 SPI row counts (PG 11), and the removal of
  SPI_restore_connection (PG 10).
• Ported the interpreter glue to the PHP 8 Zend API: the new zval/refcount
  model, hash-table and resource APIs, call_user_function,
  zend_rebuild_symbol_table, embed startup, and the PHP 8.1+ zend_error_cb
  signature.
• Uncaught PHP exceptions (for example calling an undefined function) are now
  reported as PostgreSQL errors instead of silently returning NULL.
• PHP deprecations (such as the legacy "${var}" string interpolation) are now
  non-fatal notices.
• Replaced the autoconf build with a PGXS Makefile.
• Version guards keep releases back to PostgreSQL 11 working (a
  FunctionCallInfo argument shim before PG 12, the pre-CommandTag
  event-trigger tag before PG 13, EmitWarningsOnPlaceholders before PG 15, and
  an explicit SPI_start_transaction after commit/rollback before PG 15).

Removed

• The obsolete pg_pltemplate install scripts (the catalog was removed in
  PostgreSQL 13).
• The redundant plphpu variant.