Error Suppression Operator (@)

Also Known As

TL;DR

Explanation

The @ operator suppresses all PHP errors from the expression, including fatal errors in PHP 7 (in PHP 8, @ no longer suppresses fatal errors). It is a code smell in almost every case: instead of suppressing the error, handle it — check if a file exists before fopen(), validate the URL before file_get_contents(), use error-returning functions and check their return value. The only legitimate use is third-party library calls that emit unavoidable deprecation notices in legacy code.

Common Misconception

Why It Matters

Common Mistakes

• @fopen($file) instead of checking file_exists() first.
• @unlink($file) instead of if (file_exists($file)) unlink($file).
• @$arr['key'] instead of $arr['key'] ?? null.
• Using @ on an entire function call when only one operation inside it can fail.

Code Examples

// Suppressing errors — bugs hidden:
$fp = @fopen($path, 'r');         // File missing? $fp is false, no error
$data = @file_get_contents($url); // URL invalid? $data is false, silent
@unlink($tmpFile);                 // Already deleted? Silently ignored
$val = @$config['missing_key'];   // Undefined key? Silently null

// Handle errors explicitly:
if (!file_exists($path)) throw new FileNotFoundException($path);
$fp = fopen($path, 'r');

$data = file_get_contents($url);
if ($data === false) throw new HttpException("Failed to fetch $url");

if (file_exists($tmpFile)) unlink($tmpFile);

$val = $config['missing_key'] ?? null; // Intentional null default

References

• ↗ https://www.php.net/manual/en/language.operators.errorcontrol.php

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