Undefined Variables - Not from a form post

[justhost]

Hello all

I have a simple question ... I think.

I have a php file which I developed on a Linux box with Php4.3.3 that runs perfectly fine.

When I moved the file over to a Windows box running Php4.3.4 I get undefined variable errors.

Here is a snippet of the code:
<?php
if(!$prov) {
$prov="ALL";
}
?>

Of course the page is significantly larger than this...lol

If I load this page without sending in any variables I get the following error on my Windows box:
"Notice: Undefined variable: prov in c:\domains\xxxxx.com\wwwroot\keith\adv_search.php on line 2"

Seems I have to predfine a variable?? That doesnt make sense to me? I am sure it is a simple answer but someone please give it to me...lol...

Thank you.

[ucbones]

PHP will throw a notice, notifying you of possible mistakes. PHP thinks that calling $prov when it doesn't exist is a possible mistake. Set your level of [man]error_reporting[/man] to hide notices.

HTH

ucbones

[swr]

It's actually better to code with error_reporting(E_ALL), if you can. If you've already got a whole bunch of code that works fine but throws notices, then don't worry about it, but if you're writing new code it can be helpful.

The notices are to warn you about things like this:

$myvariable = $myvaraible + 1;

The above will always set $myvariable to 1, no matter what it was before. With error_reporting(E_ALL) you'll get a notice about $myvaraible being undefined (it's a typo).

When you really do expect the variable may be undefined you can write the code in such a way that it won't throw a notice:

if (!isset($prov)) { ... } // doesn't throw notice
if (empty($prov)) { ... } // doesn't throw notice
if (!@$prov) { ... } // notice is supressed by @

[justhost]

Thanks guys. For now I have just changed error_reporting to not show NOTICES since there is a significant amount of code and I do not have time to change it all. I am going to rewrite the code over time though because I do like having the notices displayed.

Thanks again.

[ucbones]

thanks swr, still learning! justhost, click the button at the bottom of the thread to mark the thread resolved!

Cheers,

ucbones