Bug #75410 [Opn->Csd]: mysqli_stmt_bind_param does not generate warnings/errors for undefined vars

Edit report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=75410&edit=1 ID: 75410 Updated by: kalle@php.net Reported by: nisto at gmx dot com Summary: mysqli_stmt_bind_param does not generate warnings/errors for undefined vars -Status: Open +Status: Closed Type: Bug Package: MySQLi related Operating System: Windows 7 PHP Version: 7.1.10 -Assigned To: +Assigned To: kalle Block user comment: N Private report: N New Comment: NULL variables passed by reference will not yield any notice (E_NOTICE), this is not specific to the mysqli extension but anywhere an undefined variable is used in pass by reference context. f.e.: <?php function test(&$p) { } test($p); // no notice, $p undefined $p = null; test($p); // no notice, $p defined ?> I think the reason for why this behavior is, but don't quote me, is that PHP cannot tell if a variable actually exists if its value is NULL, this behavior is easily illustrated by using the isset language construct: <?php var_dump(isset($a)); // bool(false) $a = null; var_dump(isset($a)); // bool(false) ?> And therefore PHP will revert to silent behavior, while this is confusing, I can totally understand that but I don't think this is likely to be changed unless a more formal RFC can be presented to the internals@ mailing list. Tho this did not solve your issue, I hope it was at least a little insightful, thank you for using PHP! Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2017-10-20 17:07:04] nisto at gmx dot com Description: ------------ I was trying to debug a database error and after many minutes eventually realized that I had misspelled a variable passed to mysqli_stmt_bind_param (which, of course, was not set). I think it should really throw an error, or at least give a warning if a variable is undefined. I downloaded PHP from windows.php.net. I have error_reporting set to E_ALL and display_errors is enabled. My php.ini file looks essentially just like the included php.ini-development file; the only difference is that I've enabled the mysqli and mbstring extensions. Test script: --------------- <?php $Db = mysqli_connect('host', 'user', 'pass', 'database'); $Query = "SELECT field1 FROM table WHERE field2 = ? LIMIT 1"; $Statement = mysqli_stmt_init($Db); mysqli_stmt_prepare($Stmt, $Query); /* I would expect this to throw a warning or error */ mysqli_stmt_bind_param($Stmt, 's', $UndefinedVariable); ?> Expected result: ---------------- A warning or error. Actual result: -------------- No warning or error is given. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Edit this bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=75410&edit=1