@ and & in PHP, when used with variables

Question

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Reference - What does this symbol mean in PHP?

I've seen in PHP some variables that are set like this:

$var = @$something;

Or functions set like this:

$var = &my_function();

What effect do the @ and the & have?

Thanks for the links. Didn't know where to look (other than the operators page) — Calvin Froedge, Aug 26 '11 at 16:25

score 5 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 26 '11 at 16:21

5

You have them backwards. &$variable means "a reference to this variable." @my_function() means "call this function and suppress any errors or warnings that it produces."

answered Aug 26 '11 at 16:21

Derek Stobbe

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can we please not answer this because its a duplicate of duplicates – Gordon Aug 26 '11 at 16:21

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 26 '11 at 16:22

2

@ means "don't report errors"

& means "take a reference to the following variable instead of copying its value"

answered Aug 26 '11 at 16:22

sblom

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closevote. you haz the reputation for it. use it – Gordon Aug 26 '11 at 16:23
Can you explain the difference between the two (take a reference, copy)? – Calvin Froedge Aug 26 '11 at 16:24

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 26 '11 at 16:23

2

@ operator in php is used to ignore errors in that statement. Manual: http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.operators.errorcontrol.php

& is reference operator. Manual: http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.references.whatdo.php

answered Aug 26 '11 at 16:23

Marius Grigaitis

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score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 26 '11 at 16:22

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@ causes to hide all errors. In case of variables, it might be E_NOTICE informing about variable not existing.

The &my_function(); is invalid - & is normally used for references, it doesn't nothing in this case.

answered Aug 26 '11 at 16:22

Konrad Borowski

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@ and & in PHP, when used with variables

4 Answers4