Question

I’m doing this…

<?php $term = ucfirst($_GET['term']);?>

And doing this multiple times on the page:

<?php if (empty($term)) echo 'X'; else echo $term; ?>

Is there a better way to go about this?

Answer 1

You can specify the placeholder value when you first assign the value:

<?php  $term = ucfirst($_GET['term'])  or  $term = "X";  ?>

(Works because the OR has lower precedence than the assignment.)

Then just print that variable henceforth:

<?= $term ?>

It will contain either the input value, or your X.