If you use stream_select() with a blocking stream, you are doing it wrong!
Just because this function returns something in one or more of the arrays does NOT mean that a future read or write operation will not block.
The above sentence is the most important sentence you will ever read regarding stream manipulation. Using stream_select() with blocking streams is a very common amateur mistake and causes major headaches when tracking down usage of this and similar select() system functions. PHP (and really the underlying OS) should verify that the supplied stream set is not blocking and throw an error/exception if any socket is set to block so that people are forced to fix their code. The documentation for stream_select() is, at best, misleading.
If you want a non-blocking stream, then set the stream to not block. Otherwise, live with the blocking stream. That is, after all, the whole point of blocking - to block indefinitely until the operation completes. select() is built for non-blocking streams ONLY. Any other use will result in very hard to track down bugs.
I got the above lecture many years ago after encountering the very bugs I mention. I fixed my code and now correct similar mistakes when I run into the issue elsewhere. Writing code for non-blocking streams is simpler than trying to write hacks for blocking streams with select() functions and ending up with application bugs.
