initialising variables , set to null ?

[phprock]

Hi,

ONe my friend told me that it's better to initialise any varialbles.

My question can i initialise any variables to empty.. like

Example one

if(!isset($_GET["op"])){
$op="";
}else{
$op=$_GET["op"];
}

Example two

$error="";

if(!$_POST["email"]){
$error="Email Address is missing";
}

// somewhere in the code i say.

if(!$error){
echo"NO errors found";
}else {
echo"Oops we found $error";
}

is the aove a good practice ??

just let you know that in the second example .. I could write the following code but in some case i want to do above style.

if(!$_POST["email"]){
echo" Email address is empty ";
}else {
echo" Everything is ok";
}

[Pig]

AFAIK, in PHP it makes no difference and there is no need to intialize variables. Just use them when you need to.

[LordShryku]

Though the first example is correct because it uses isset() to check. Otherwise, newer php versions will throw a notice about an unknown variable

[phprock]

LordShryku

So second example is not correct ?

Becuase if i don't initialise i get errors as you mentioned..

[LordShryku]

Not errors, notices. And only with new versions of PHP.

/*Incorrect*/
if(!$_POST["email"]){

/*Correct*/
if(!isset($_POST["email"])){

[phprock]

thanks..

can i say in the second example

if(!$error){
echo" no errors";
}

[LordShryku]

That would never equate to true since you set $error=""; beforehand. And if you didn't do that, you'd what to say if(!isset($error)) {