Can't use method return value in write context

Question

I would think the following piece of code should work, but it doesn\'t (Edited: Now works in PHP 5.5+):

if (!empty($r->getError()))
         


        

Answer 1

Prior to PHP 5.5, the the PHP docs used to say:

empty() only checks variables as anything else will result in a parse error

In PHP < 5.5 you weren't able use empty() directly on a function's return value. Instead, you could assign the return from getError() to a variable and run empty() on the variable.

In PHP >= 5.5 this is no longer necessary.