--- title: A story of compact() and extract() | daily.dev description: A deep dive into PHP's compact() and extract() functions, covering how they work, their real-world usage patterns across 3000+ open source projects,... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/ba2vwwqhx twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: A story of compact() and extract() | daily.dev og:description: A deep dive into PHP's compact() and extract() functions, covering how they work, their real-world usage patterns across 3000+ open source projects,... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/ba2vwwqhx og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/ba2VWwqHX.png og:image:alt: Post cover image og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # A story of compact() and extract() **[PHP Dev](https://daily.dev/sources/phpdev)** · [@damienseguy](https://daily.dev/damienseguy) · 3 upvotes · 1 comments ## Summary A deep dive into PHP's compact() and extract() functions, covering how they work, their real-world usage patterns across 3000+ open source projects, alternative syntaxes using variable variables and the spread operator, security risks of extract() with uncontrolled input, and practical recommendations for modernizing code that relies on them. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@rucaua** · 1 upvotes > I’d prefer to avoid using `compact` and `extract` because they make the code less readable and less predictable. For example, this: > > ``` > $a = sizeDoesntMatter('big banana'); > $b = sizeDoesntMatter('small banana'); > $c = 47; > > $banana = compact('a', 'b', 'c'); > ``` > > is less clear than writing it explicitly: > > ``` > $banana = [ > 'a' => sizeDoesntMatter('big banana'), > 'b' => sizeDoesntMatter('small banana'), > 'c' => 47, > ]; > ``` > > If u can't do that, probably u write spaghetti code. And this is the sign to refactor your ... > > And sometimes phpStan and your IDE not handle compact and extract ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [JavaScript for Everyone: Destructuring](https://daily.dev/posts/javascript-for-everyone-destructuring-f7mq0z8t0) · CSS-Tricks · 18 upvotes · 0 comments - [Twig 3.23: Introducing new operators and destructuring support \(Symfony Blog\)](https://daily.dev/posts/twig-3-23-introducing-new-operators-and-destructuring-support-symfony-blog--bk2cqn0wr) · Symfony · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [The Big Family](https://daily.dev/posts/the-big-family-ufhun8a2y) · The Daily WTF · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#security](https://daily.dev/tags/security), [#php](https://daily.dev/tags/php) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/ba2vwwqhx) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"DiscussionForumPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https://daily.dev/posts/ba2vwwqhx","headline":"A story of compact() and extract()","text":"Shared: A story of compact() and extract()","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/ba2vwwqhx","datePublished":"2026-03-02T12:21:17.088Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T12:21:57.007Z","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Damien seguy","url":"https://daily.dev/damienseguy","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--nPbjKqol--/f_auto,q_auto/v1698422671/avatars/avatar_G85JhYcDxAg024Omc8Rlp","description":"PHP developer passionate about deep language knowledge, testing, static analysis, and sustainable it","worksFor":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Exakat","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--ibtl6fze--/f_auto/v1749051132/companies/exakat"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"EndorseAction"},"userInteractionCount":38990}},"image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--ZrL_HSsR--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2006","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":3},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":1}],"sharedContent":{"@type":"WebPage","url":"https://api.daily.dev/r/SwJvjJsLs"},"comment":[{"@type":"Comment","text":"I’d prefer to avoid using compact and extract because they make the code less readable and less predictable. For example, this:\n$a = sizeDoesntMatter('big banana');\n$b = sizeDoesntMatter('small banana');\n$c = 47;\n\n$banana = compact('a', 'b', 'c');\n\nis less clear than writing it explicitly:\n$banana = [\n 'a' => sizeDoesntMatter('big banana'),\n 'b' => sizeDoesntMatter('small banana'),\n 'c' => 47,\n];\n\nIf u can’t do that, probably u write spaghetti code. And this is the sign to refactor your …\nAnd sometimes phpStan and your IDE not handle compact and extract","datePublished":"2026-03-10T20:07:38.515Z","dateModified":"2026-03-10T20:40:35.735Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/ba2VWwqHX#c-3HGDEAarA","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Maksym Tymofeiev","url":"https://daily.dev/rucaua","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--caTJyFHC--/f_auto/v1736549445/avatars/avatar_sIPMygD4Ld90iZsdsEqh7"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1}}],"isPartOf":{"@type":"WebPage","url":"https://daily.dev/squads/phpdev","name":"PHP Dev"}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"PHP Dev","item":"https://daily.dev/squads/phpdev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"A story of compact() and extract()"}]} ```