@ $ _ GET是什么意思？

Question

I don't understand why someone is using the @ in the code, I have seen it with mysql connections but I don't know what it means.. thanks!

$player_name_orig = @$_GET['player'];
if (!$player_name_orig) {
    die('You must specify a player name');
}

Answer 1

The @ is the error suppression operator.

In this specific context, it's a (wrong!) way to avoid PHP giving a notice if the player key does not exist in $_GET:

If you try this:

unset($_GET['player']); // to make sure
echo $_GET['player'];

You get:

Notice: Undefined index: player in F:\dev\www\index.php on line 35

While if you try this:

unset($_GET['player']); // to make sure
echo @$_GET['player'];

There is no output.

The correct way to do this:

if (empty($_GET['player']) {
    die('You must specify a player name');
}