PHP - How can I write better code with E_NOTICES enabled?

Question

I prefer to develop with E_NOTICES turned on, but I often have to write excess, overly verbose, code when working with array indexes. How can I write this code in less code with E_NOTICES enabled.

With notices suppressed

if ($_REQUEST['some_key'] == 'bob')
{
}

Without notices suppressed

if (array_key_exists('some_key', $_REQUEST) && $_REQUEST['some_key'] == 'bob')
{
}

Answer 1

I generally use isset(), instead of array_key_exists(), for that kind of thing ; which means using something like this :

if (isset($_REQUEST['some_key']) && $_REQUEST['some_key'] == 'bob')
{
}

A couple of differences :

• isset is a language construct, and not a function -- and its faster (no function call)
• note that isset will return false if a data is null ; array_key_exists will return true
  • But it's often not a problem, especially when dealing with GET/POST parameters
• it shorter to write (a couple less characters)
  • and you can use something like if (isset($_REQUEST['a'], $_REQUEST['b'], $_REQUEST['c']), if necessary

Answer 2

The easy way out is to use @ for error suppression:

if (@$_REQUEST['some_key'] == 'bob') {}

However, this can be very slow if you're using it more than once or twice per page load.

Another solution is to assign your unknown by reference (although I'm not 100% sure this will work for superglobals like $_REQUEST):

$some_key =& $_REQUEST['some_key'];
if ($some_key == 'bob') {}

Generally, I just use isset like Pascal said.