I don't see how "==" would help in that situation, other than "solving" this particular issue by opening another can of worms.

You simply can't use php arrays for user-generated keys in a safe manner. At least you have to add some prefix like '_stuff_' to all keys, to avoid accidental conversions. And yes, this "proper" solution (Can you ever can say "proper" in php? Anyway ...) doesn't have to involve "==", but works perfectly (and preferably) with "===".