Question

I know that you’re supposed to define PHP variables so that you don’t clog up your error log with undefined variables, but my logs are still getting filled with unnecessary information.

For instance…

[28-Jan-2013 16:45:42 UTC] PHP Notice:  Undefined index: site in C:\Sites\FLCBranson.org\freedownloads.php on line 34

My PHP code has $site defined, but I do want to have option to override it…

// it's a good idea to define the variable first and then make changes as necessary (that way you don't fill up your logs with worthless errors)
$site = "flc";
// overrides the domain (useful for IP addresses)
if ($_GET["site"]) $site = $_GET["site"];

So, I have a lot of that type of issue. Then I have a bunch of these pesky errors…

[28-Jan-2013 16:45:42 UTC] PHP Notice:  Undefined offset: 3 in C:\Sites\FLCBranson.org\listseries.php on line 264
[28-Jan-2013 16:45:42 UTC] PHP Notice:  Undefined offset: 4 in C:\Sites\FLCBranson.org\listseries.php on line 265
[28-Jan-2013 16:45:42 UTC] PHP Notice:  Undefined offset: 5 in C:\Sites\FLCBranson.org\listseries.php on line 266

I have an array that is populated with various bits of content. If something is in one of the slots, then I want to do something with it…

// explode() takes a string of text ($item->title in this case) and creates an array comprised of parts of the text separated by the separator (- in this case)
$title = explode(" - ", $sermontitle);
// sets the sermon title variable
$sermontitle = $title[0];
if ($title[1]) $sermontitle = $sermontitle . " - " . $title[1];
if ($title[2]) $sermontitle = $sermontitle . "<br>" . $title[2];
if ($title[3]) $sermontitle = $sermontitle . " - " . $title[3];
if ($title[4]) $sermontitle = $sermontitle . " - " . $title[4];
if ($title[5]) $sermontitle = $sermontitle . " - " . $title[5];

So, what am I doing incorrectly? I define my variable. Then I only make changes to the variable if certain conditions are met. I thought that was the appropriate way of doing it.

Edit…

I found another odd instance…

[28-Jan-2013 20:07:05 UTC] PHP Notice:  Undefined variable: broadcast in C:\Sites\FLCBranson.org\flconlineservices.php on line 242

It seems that if (file_exists($golive) || ($broadcast == "live") isn’t enough. Do I need to do if (file_exists($golive) || (isset($broadcast) && $broadcast == "live"))? That seems like a lot of code to perform a simple comparison.

Edit 2…

So, I’m starting to understand why isset() is required, but here’s something that I don’t get. I have some code pulling information from a database and I have if ($row["Sarasota"]) but the error log doesn’t show a single thing for that. Why wouldn’t isset() be required there if it is required for if ($title[5])? The only difference I can see is the quoted word “Sarasota” as opposed to the unquoted numeric 5.

Answer 1

if ($_GET["site"])

must be

if (isset($_GET["site"]))

And also for the $title things you should use isset:

if (isset($title[1])) [...]