Fake array slicing operator: Make it shorter

Question

Is there some innovative way to make the "print" shorter without too much confusion? And which of the "print" do you like most?

define('_','_');
function _j($a, $b) {
    return $a._.$b;
}

// Output 0_0
print (0)._.(0);
print _j(0,0);

Update

What I want to do is to have slice syntax that are in Python/Ruby into PHP eg.

a[1:3]
a[1,3]
a[1..3]

to make it into PHP you need to quote like this $a["1:3"] ($a is a class with ArrayAccess interface) so I was thinking if there is some otherways, $a[(0)._.(0)] This is too long.

Answer 1

If you intend to remove confusion, you really shouldn't be writing such code because it's a step short of obfuscation.

Answer 2

what do you want to do? concatenate strings? use implode:

echo implode('_', array(0, 0));

not shorter, but definitely less confusing, more readable and it best conveys the intention

---

edit now that the question has enough information:

you have a class which implements the ArrayAccess interface.

why not use decimal numbers to achieve your slicing operator?

 $a = new PythonArray(array(1, 2, 3, 4, 5));
 $b = $a[1.3];

you should then be able to convert the number to a string and split on the period. you could also use floor to get both parts. then delegate to array_slice:

 list($start, $len) = explode('.', (string)$offset);
 return array_slice($internal_array, $start, $len);

be aware though, there might be problems with floating point precision. what's wrong with using quotes though? two extra characters is not too bad.