Wouldn't it be more efficient to do it this way?
if(isset($_GET['mode']) && $_GET['mode'] !== ''){
$mode = $_GET['mode'];
}else if(isset($_POST['mode']) && $_POST['mode'] !== ''){
$mode = $_POST['mode'];
}else{
echo 'No index for "mode" could be found in $_GET or $_POST. Or both are empty.';
}