Value of option arguments: FALSE or NULL

Question

When you have optional arguments that can have different types, which value is most suited to point out that the argument should not be taken into consideration? False or Null?

You want to read [Null vs. False vs. 0](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/137487/null-vs-false-vs-0?rq=1) — KV Prajapati, Jul 15 '12 at 10:42

score 6 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 15 '12 at 10:41

6

null is the value used to represent "no value", whereas false means "no", "bad", "unsuccessful", "don't" etc.

Therefore: null.

answered Jul 15 '12 at 10:41

deceze

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Zbigniew · Answer 2 · 2012-07-15T10:49:04.800

3

For optional arguments use null (generally).

Use null, if you need to differentiate between boolean values (true/false) and nothing (null). On the other hand if you don't need to check for not-set argument and you are using boolean variable then I'd go for false.

edited Jul 15 '12 at 10:49

answered Jul 15 '12 at 10:39

Zbigniew

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score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 15 '12 at 10:42

For me this depends on what I'm going to do with the value of said argument...

I am writing a database function where I can have default values as NULL

function somedbfunc($id = NULL, $column1 = NULL)

If these values are null my function may insert a blank record..

If I need to stop my function because of a non argument I may use FALSE

function blah($this = FALSE, $that = FALSE)
{
    if ( ! $this || ! $that)
    {
        return FALSE;
    ....

So I am saying that both are totally valid, but it depends on the situation you find yourself in.

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 15 '12 at 11:00

1

As you are saying that you want to tell the "optional arguments" "not be taken into consideration", I will go for null. False is explicitly saying "no" to the recipient. which is a valid input.

answered Jul 15 '12 at 11:00

billyswong

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Value of option arguments: FALSE or NULL

4 Answers4