Earlier we were using func_get_args() to get all the arguments available in a function call, but with PHP 5.6, this can be removed as we can easily get that facility with the ... operator.

function mySkills($name, ...$skills) {
    echo "Name: " . $name;
    echo "My Skills Count: " . count(skills);
}
 
mySkills("Adnan", "PHP");
// Output:
// Name: Adnan
// My Skills Count: 1
 
mySkills("Adnan", "Codeigniter", "Laravel");
// Output:
// Name: Adnan
// My Skills Count: 2

** Shorthand

The ** operator has been added for exponentiation. We have support for the shorthand operator as easily.

echo 2 ** 3;    // Output: 8
$a = 2;
$a **= 3;
echo $a;        // Output: 8

Note that the order of operations comes into play using this operator. Please take a look at the following example for a clear understanding:

echo 2 ** 2 ** 4;   // Output: 65536

You might expect it to return 256 as the grouping would be like (2 ** 2) ** 4, but that is not the case here. The real result would be 65536 as the grouping would be from right to left and it will parse as 2 ** (2 ** 4).