Description

In PR #56621, the implementation was updated to use a return with a ternary:

return json_validate($content)
    ? $this->ddJson($key)
    : dd($content);

Since both dd() and ddJson() terminate the script, the return here is effectively unreachable. This makes the code look like it returns a value, when in reality it never does.

A clearer approach, and one that aligns with the original implementation’s style (just without the function_exists guard), would be:

if (json_validate($content)) {
    $this->ddJson($key);
}

dd($content);

This keeps the semantics consistent with the @return never contract and with other dd* helpers in the framework.