Comments on: PHP: The @ Operator

By: Sejanus

Sejanus — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 09:25:01 +0000

the correct way is to write your own custom error handler (which is rather easy and faster than it sounds) and choose what and when errors to show, what to log (if needed), etc. @ always and I mean always is bad. Wait till you need to debug the code which is already in production with @ all over the place.

By: Sergey Lempert

Sergey Lempert — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 14:28:00 +0000

Thank you! I always used to set error_reporting level to zero to suppress errors.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 14 May 2010 15:26:11 +0000

SWiT: I would probably suggest that you are making a feature out of a bug by using @ to suppress all output with require_once(). A better approach would probably be to:

1. Refactor the code in SomeScriptWithEchos.php to be more of a library that *can* produce output when asked, but doesn’t *have* to produce output.

2. Or use output buffering to suppress output instead:
http://php.net/manual/en/book.outcontrol.php

By: SWiT

SWiT — Fri, 14 May 2010 14:43:04 +0000

I’m not sure if this is a legitimate use of `@` but I’ve used it with PHP 5.2.6 and WAMP in a @require_once(“SomeScriptWithEchos.php”); statement to keep the echos from writing to the output buffer and stopping a redirect from happening. That way I can run “SomeScriptWithEchos.php” directly for maintainence or include it in automated scripts inside out application.

I will note it didn’t work on our production site running php 5.2.(>6) and I had to comment out the echo statements in “SomeScriptWithEchos.php”. I am curious if this is an ok use or am I making a feature out of a bug?

By: Alpha Monk

Alpha Monk — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 15:33:06 +0000

I came here only seeking information about PHP @ operator and learned a bit about error handling in here too.

This is a very good article.

By: Mostafa

Mostafa — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 17:43:46 +0000

Very helpful
I didnt find @ operator explanation easily.

By: rejani

rejani — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 10:46:19 +0000

Thanks for the crystal clear explanation of @.
It is very useful.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 21:35:43 +0000

@unknown (ironic huh)

you can always do this:
$str =@ $_POST["something"];

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:24:22 +0000

The & operator is used when you pass a variable to a function to tell PHP to pass it by reference instead of passing it by value (copy on write), like this:

$var = “foo”;
some_fiunction(&$var);

Unlike C++, in PHP the caller chooses when to pass by value and when to pass by reference. In C++, the function writer indicates this with the & character in the function signature.

By: name

name — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:02:11 +0000

thank you. what is the & operator? i saw this in php manual in array section.