How to suppress "Call to a member function function() on null" error in laravel blade?

Question

I have this code in blade template :

{{ $birthday->format('m/d/Y') }}

I am getting this error when $birthday is null, how to suppress this exception?

I want to show empty string when $birthday is null, I tried this two solutions but with no success:

{{ $birthday->format('m/d/Y') or '' }}

And:

{{ @$birthday->format('m/d/Y') }}

Any suggestions ? I would like blade solution not in eloquent model...

The cause of this is an old design problem in the engine of PHP. All errors can be converted to exceptions or can be silenced with `@` except when a method is called on a non-object. That case is somehow special. I don't think they will ever fix this. — Crouching Kitten, Jan 31 '17 at 13:35
@Jonathan ahahah who said that I don't know how to check variable's existence ? Why did you assume ? I am just looking for ideas for elegant solution....In other php template engines exists feature that I am looking for.... — fico7489, Jan 31 '17 at 13:56
@Jonathan How do you think I solved this issue until now, I used if statement, but my question is if there is any blade feature/solution like in other php templating engines, in smarty templating engine you can use this code : {{ @$birthday->format('m/d/Y') }} . So legit answer to my question is "No, blade can't do this"!!!!!!!! — fico7489, Feb 01 '17 at 06:11
I'd like to see how the "smarty" code is different. The rendered output is almost exactly as you see it in blade in your last example. `format('m/d/Y')); ?>`. Garbage in, garbage out — Jonathan, Feb 01 '17 at 09:38

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 31 '17 at 13:26

3

Use ternary operator:

{{ is_null($birthday) ? '' : $birthday->format('m/d/Y') }}

answered Jan 31 '17 at 13:26

Alexey Mezenin

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1

He refuses common sense – Jonathan Jan 31 '17 at 19:13

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 31 '17 at 13:10

2

You could use a null coalesce to set a default value for your variables.

{{ $var ?? 'default' }}

or if you have PHP <7

<?php isset($var) ? $var  : 'default'; ?>

{{ $var }}

answered Jan 31 '17 at 13:10

online Thomas

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this : {{ $var ?? 'default' }} is cool, but will not work with {{ $var->someFunction() ?? 'default' }} – fico7489 Jan 31 '17 at 14:00
Why would it not work? And I really think function calls should be in the controller and not in the view when possible! – online Thomas Jan 31 '17 at 14:14

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 31 '17 at 14:01

Dates from an Eloquent model returns either a Carbon/Carbon object or null if not set. If you want the date to be an empty string if it doesn't exists you can create an accessor.

class Foo extends Eloquent {
    public function getBirthdayAttribute() {
        return isset($this->attributes['birthday']) && $this->attributes['birthday'] instanceof \DateTime ? $this->attributes['birthday']->format('m/d/Y') : '';
    }
}

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 11 '20 at 13:51

All other answers are way too complex or won't work in case you need to call a function on the variable in question. Fortunately Laravel has a nice trick for this; you can use optional helper:

{{ optional($birthday)->format('m/d/Y') }}

It's available since Laravel 6 https://laravel.com/docs/8.x/helpers#method-optional

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 31 '17 at 13:03

1

try this one:

answered Jan 31 '17 at 13:03

Anton Grigorov

139
5

Then I would need to repeat this code 200 and more times: @if($variable) {{ $variable }} @endif It is not elegant and not DRY valid... – fico7489 Jan 31 '17 at 13:07
Don't see where I told you to to use if and endif – Anton Grigorov Jan 31 '17 at 13:45
yes true, but it is a one line code. Anyway don't see anything more elegant ... sorry – Anton Grigorov Jan 31 '17 at 14:11
ok, in other templating system you can find something like : {{ $birthday->format('m/d/Y') or '' }} – fico7489 Jan 31 '17 at 14:32

Jesse de gans · Answer 6 · 2017-01-31T14:01:45.997

1

You may construct blade if statements using the @if, @elseif, @else, and @endif directives. These directives function identically to their PHP counterparts:

  @if($birthday)
    {{ $birthday->format('m/d/Y') }}
   @endif

note: using a @if in a @foreach $x will repeat the if statement for each $x More about Laravel Blade

EDIT

This is the elegant solution u are looking for

{{ $birthday->format('m/d/Y')  ?: '' }}

edited Jan 31 '17 at 14:01

answered Jan 31 '17 at 13:03

Jesse de gans

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Then I would need to repeat this code 200 and more times: @if($variable) {{ $variable }} @endif It is not elegant and not DRY valid... – fico7489 Jan 31 '17 at 13:06
Please edit your question with the full code :) so i can observe what u need all i know now is that u need to show $birthday when its value is set. Are u using a blade foreach or a for loop? – Jesse de gans Jan 31 '17 at 13:08
I think question is explained enough. I am looking for soulution how to echo empty string when variable is null...But I am looking for elegant solution.... – fico7489 Jan 31 '17 at 13:58

score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Nov 27 '20 at 22:53

1

As of PHP 8.0 you can use nullsafe operator (?->) and when $birthday is null it translates whole expression to null.

{{ $birthday?->format('m/d/Y') }}

answered Nov 27 '20 at 22:53

Jsowa

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score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 01 '17 at 06:19

My solution is to extend blade :

class AppServiceProvider extends ServiceProvider
{
    /**
     * Perform post-registration booting of services.
     *
     * @return void
     */
    public function boot()
    {
        Blade::directive('datetime', function ($expression) {
            if($expression == null){
                return '';
            }else{
                return "<?php echo ($expression)->format('m/d/Y'); ?>";
            }
        });
    }

    /**
     * Register bindings in the container.
     *
     * @return void
     */
    public function register()
    {
        //
    }
}

score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Jun 30 '19 at 00:35

0

i often use

{{ $var->prop ? $var->prop->format('d/m/Y') : '' }}

answered Jun 30 '19 at 00:35

Ezequiel García

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How to suppress "Call to a member function function() on null" error in laravel blade?

9 Answers9