"void" and "never" are not atomic types

Affected page

https://www.php.net/manual/en/language.types.type-system.php

Current issue

Suggestion: Remove "void" and "never" from Built-in types and put them in a seperate list Return-only types, outside the Atomic types section. Because both are not atomic types like int, string etc.

Void

Currently void is listed as an atomic type.

• But void is not a type at all. It is a keyword checked at compile time.
• There is no comparison possible if a function returned void.
• The RFC https://wiki.php.net/rfc/void_return_type also states the return value is null and not void.

function VoidIsNotAType() : void
{
}

$ret = VoidIsNotAType();
var_dump(VoidIsNotAType());
// NULL

// Comparison not possible, because VOID is not a type
// if ($ret !== void) echo 'Not void'."\n";

function UntypedVoidIsNotAType()
{
}

$ret = VoidIsNotAType();
var_dump(VoidIsNotAType());
// NULL

// Comparison not possible, because VOID is not a type
// if ($ret !== void) echo 'Not void'."\n";

Never

Currently never is listed as an atomic type.

• But never is not a type at all. It is a keyword checked at compile time.
• The RFC https://wiki.php.net/rfc/noreturn_type states Both noreturn and void are both only valid as return types, but there the similarity ends.

Suggested improvement

...

Additional context (optional)

...

Start with the affected language.types.type-system.php page and review how “void” and “never” are currently presented under Built-in types and Atomic types. Check the linked void and noreturn RFCs for the intended terminology and return-only behavior. Done means the page clearly separates these entries from atomic types without losing relevant PHP documentation.