@ character before a function call

Question

What is the difference between these two function calls in PHP?

init_get($somevariable);

@init_get($somevariable);

the "@" will close any php errors and notices – Erkan Özkök Feb 01 '16 at 10:09 — Erkan Özkök, Feb 01 '16 at 10:09

score 248 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 07 '13 at 04:07

248

the "@" will silence any php errors your function could raise.

edited Mar 07 '13 at 04:07

Mike Eng

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answered Jan 04 '10 at 22:08

solidgumby

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But what if you put `@` in front of PHP's `trigger_error` function? I have seen that in some code, but its behavior is inconsistent for me so far. In some cases, I do see the error being reported by the configured error handler and in other cases it does seem to get reported. – fritzmg Mar 06 '16 at 10:40
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The `@` will temporarily set `error_reporting` to 0 but will not "suppress" the error. – solidgumby Mar 08 '16 at 12:26

score 50 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 04 '10 at 22:07

50

It silences errors and warnings. See Error Control Operators.

answered Jan 04 '10 at 22:07

Sampson

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score 40 · Answer 3 · edited Aug 26 '16 at 05:36

40

As already answered the @ will stop the error (if any) from showing up.
In terms of performance this is not recommended.

What php is doing is:

reading the error display state
setting the error display to show no errors
running your function
setting the error display to it's previous state

If you don't want any errors showing up use error_reporting(0);.

Or just write bug free code :P

edited Aug 26 '16 at 05:36

Nikolas Evers

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answered Jan 04 '10 at 22:38

AntonioCS

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Prefer to put zero, but if that works, great didn't know about it :) – AntonioCS Jan 05 '10 at 08:54
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What about functions that you do not control, like mail for example? Which other options exist? I am using @ right now, but would be great to be able to do in different way – spuas Feb 04 '13 at 15:12

score 8 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 04 '10 at 22:07

8

http://www.faqts.com/knowledge_base/view.phtml/aid/18068/fid/38

All PHP expressions can be called with the "@" prefix, which turns off error reporting for that particular expression.

answered Jan 04 '10 at 22:07

George

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score 6 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 05 '10 at 02:16

6

As everyone said, it stops the output of errors for that particular function. However, this decreases performance greatly since it has to change the error display setting twice. I would recommend NOT ignoring warnings or errors and fixing the code instead.

answered Jan 05 '10 at 02:16

Daniel Sorichetti

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Thanks to all for your answers. That code is not mine, I was only looking at the phpBB code for curiosity, so I have no problems of performance. :) Thanks again. – nixie Jan 05 '10 at 13:06

@ character before a function call

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