php errors question

johnh

I have this and other errors in my apache errors_log file, and I know how to make it stop showing in my errors (php.ini setting), but I don't know why it's showing up as an error at all.

[Mon Sep 9 23:03:45 2002] [error] PHP Notice: Undefined variable: USER_PROFILE in .../search/simple.php on line 919

Why is a userdefined variable (programatically defined) Undefined? I know it's not a variable built into PHP, but the code works fine, and the variable inside of the coding works fine, so then why is PHP bocking about it?

BTW, I've just installed PHP 4.2.2 with apache 1.3.26

Thanks
John

the_Igel

you may get this warning (notice) in case you work with a variable having not previously set an initial value for it. Look for the first occurence of this variable. Is it smth like $foo = 'bar'? If not, it's the point for warning. Not much to worry about, though.

Weedpacket

It's a pretty small risk, but it can be a potential security hole in some situations - you can't really trust its value fully unless you've set it yourself.

It's also a convenient notice to have around in debugging: if, for example it said "Undefined variable: USER_PROFLIE in ..." it might explain a few things.

johnh

Ok, thanks. I've never seen the errors/notif's before, and yet I've often not set a value. That's part of the charm of PHP.

But thanks again
John