Re: Detecting if a null variable exists?

On Fri, Jun 11, 2010 at 19:43, Brian Moon <brian@moonspot.net> wrote: > Is it just me or are we missing a way in the language to check if a variable > that has been set to NULL exists or not? > > is_null() on an unset variable throws a NOTICE. > $var === null throws a notice. > > So, you have to use isset()? But, ah, > > $var = null; > if(isset($var)) > > yields false. > > Is array_key_exists("var", $GLOBALS) the only solution to this problem? This question creeps up every once in a while, and I have seen bunchload of code that uses array_key_exists("foo", $array); rather then isset($array["foo"]) because of it. I however have never seen a proper usecase.. I tend to "initialize" my variables, and array keys, as null, so I never have to do these kind of checks. And if you don't initialize your variables, then you can turn of E_NOTICE if it bothers you. -Hannes