The “@” symbol is a error control operator in PHP that allows you to suppress error messages generated by the PHP code. This can be useful in certain situations where you do not want error messages to be displayed to the user, such as when you are testing your code or when you are working with sensitive data. In this article, we will discuss the use of the “@” symbol in PHP in greater detail.
The “@” symbol is placed before a function or expression to suppress any error messages that might be generated by that function or expression. For example, consider the following code:
In this code, the “@” symbol is placed before the mysql_connect() function, which is used to connect to a MySQL database. If the connection to the database fails, an error message will be generated by the function. However, with the “@” symbol in place, the error message will not be displayed. Instead, the error message will be suppressed and the function will simply return a false value.
While the “@” symbol can be useful in certain situations, it is important to use it judiciously. Suppressing error messages can make it more difficult to identify and debug problems in your code, and it is generally recommended that you only use the “@” symbol in specific circumstances where it is necessary.
Additionally, the “@” symbol should not be used to hide errors that occur in production environments. It is always best to fix the root cause of an error, rather than simply hiding it. If you are working in a development environment, it is recommended that you turn on error reporting so that you can see any errors that occur in your code.
It suppresses error messages