I just upgraded this site to use PHP7.3.  So far, I’m not noticing any changes (which I would say is a good thing), but I’ll keep my eyes on my error log.  I know that there is one open issue with WordPress that will flood my error logs.

Something that makes me proud of WordPress is that for PHP 7.0, 7.1, and 7.2, WordPress Core has made it a priority to run without issue right away. Sometimes this happens during the PHP release candidates, and other times it’s when the release is final, but it’s always quick.

In 2015, I started looking at how WordPress would run on php7.0 over 6 months before it was released. Now WordPress has gotten to a maturity level that it doesn’t take 6 months to be ready for a new version of PHP.

Does WordPress continue to run fine on old versions of PHP?  Yes, because it’s important to not abandon users.  But efforts are underway by many in the WordPress community to educate users and help them upgrade. In my history, many users of WordPress don’t know what PHP is, yet alone why it’s important for them to upgrade. 

What’s coming in PHP7.3?

PHP7.3 is not a groundbreaking release, but is a continued refinement of the language. is_countable makes it easier to not have errors with count (and is already backported to WordPress, so start using it now). array_key_first and array_key_last add helpers for some common code. There are also a handful of deprecations and new warnings that aim to make it easier to work with PHP. Overall, I’m excited to start using it more and more.

If you want to understand my opinions more on PHP and WordPress, these opinions still hold true. PHP7.3 is expected to be released on 12 December 2018 and a changelog highlighting new features and breaking changes is available.

Are you running PHP7.3 now?  What’s your experience and thoughts?