[RESOLVED] I need error messages

xbuilder

When I miss spell a variable name, I am not warned. When I miss a quotation mark etc, sometimes the code output nothing. I am from a C background and am used to rely on compilers to correct syntax errors.

What's the php way of catching syntax errors?

NogDog

If you have access to a terminal/shell command prompt, you can use the PHP "lint" option to check syntax:

php -l filename.php    [That's a lower-case "L"]

For running through the webserver via the browser you want to turn on the display_errors option and set the error_reporting option to "E_ALL | E_STRICT". You can do this via php.ini, or via a .htaccess file if running Apache. You can also set it within your script with:

<?php
ini_set('display_errors', 1);
error_reporting(E_ALL);

However, if the error settings from the system config have error output disabled, then turning it on in the script won't help you see parse errors (since those config commands will not have actually been executed yet).

The .htaccess file contents would be:

php_flag display_errors on
php_value error_reporting E_ALL | E_STRICT

xbuilder

Thanks. I got it working by (1) using php lint or (2) turn on display_errors in php.ini.
This is good enough for me to get going.

However, a few things that I observed:

(1) Adding a .htaccess file with the following content (when display_errors is off in php.ini) does not show errors

(2) What's the use of ini_set('display_errors', 1); in my script if it's disabled in php.ini, since I get errors without calling this function whene I turn it on in the php.ini?

(3) When I turn on display_errors in php.ini, it can't be turned off in the code by calling ini_set('display_errors', 0);

Thx
xb

NogDog

(1) One possibility: the Apache configuration needs to include "AllowOverride Options" or "AllowOverride All" for the .htacces "php_flag" and "php_value" settings to work. EDIT: Also, you need to be using PHP as an Apache module, not the CGI version.

(2) It's just another option if the php.ini or .htaccess options are not viable for some reason, but the least useful when it comes to parse errors.

(3) Remember that any compilation errors will occur and be reported before anything in the script is actually processed, so any parse errors will be reported or not reported based on the display_errors setting from the current PHP environment, not based on any ini_set() settings in the script itself. However, run-time warnings/notices can be controlled by this.

xbuilder

Point (3) was really cool! Thanks for all your help.

bradgrafelman

Don't forget to mark this thread resolved (if it is).