Question

I am doing this check on a variable:

if (empty($num) || !isset ($num) || !is_numeric ($num))
{
    $population = -1;
}
else
{
    $population = $num;
}

And what I was hoping for is that if num is null or not a number or doesn’t exist, to make $population = -1 and in all other cases to give $population the value of $num

But that is not happening for me. Any ideas why this isn’t working the way I thought it would?

Answer 1

Is this possibly an issue with scoping?

<?php
$num=23;
tryStuff();

function tryStuff(){

    global $num; //if this line is commented out, then -1 is printed. 
    if (empty($num) || !isset ($num) || !is_numeric ($num))
    {
        $population = -1;
    }
    else
    {
        $population = $num;
    }
    echo "$population<br>";
}
?>