What does '@' mean in PHP's lexicon, to use in practise? [duplicate]

Question

I want to know where and how to use the at sign, like the example below.

if (!@$zip) exit();

It's an error control operator that suppresses error messages. You should avoid using it though since it will make debugging a real pain. — M. Eriksson
– M. Eriksson, Commented Jul 22, 2019 at 18:42
@SeeQue - It will suppress all errors/warnings/notices, except from catchable errors (which you handle with try/catch instead). So if an expression causes a critical error that can't be caught, then it will silently just stop executing the script. — M. Eriksson
– M. Eriksson, Commented Jul 22, 2019 at 18:54
It means "I saw this somewhere and no one warned me not to use it". — ceejayoz
– ceejayoz, Commented Jul 22, 2019 at 18:57
@SeeQue - Yes, that's why it's a very bad way of handling errors. However, since PHP 7, many of the critical errors are now thrown as catchable errors instead, which you can't silence using @. — M. Eriksson
– M. Eriksson, Commented Jul 22, 2019 at 18:57

JohnL · Accepted Answer · 2019-07-22 19:49:06Z

In PHP, the @ is a control operator. When prepended to an expression, any error messages generated by it (except catchable errors) will be ignored.

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