PHP 8.6 arrives November 19 with partial function application and clamp()

PHP 8.6 is scheduled for general availability on November 19, 2026, with RC4 already out and RC5 planned for November 5. Headline features include partial function application via the ? placeholder, a clamp() function, an immutable Time\Duration class and a batch of deprecations.

• PHP 8.6 GA is planned for November 19, 2026; RC4 shipped October 21
• The ? placeholder turns a function into a closure with open arguments
• clamp() bounds a value and throws ValueError when min exceeds max
• Deprecations include return inside finally and define()'s third argument