Error handling in PHP

Question

I\'m familiar with some of the basics, but what I would like to know more about is when and why error handling (including throwing exceptions) should be used in PHP, especia

Answer 1

You should use Error Handling in cases where you don't have explicit control over the data your script is working on. I tend to use it frequently for example in places like form validation. Knowing how to spot error prone places in code takes some practice: Some common ones are after function calls that return a value, or when dealing with results from a database query. You should never assume the return from a function will be what your expecting, and you should be sure to code in anticipation. You don't have to use try/catch blocks, though they are useful. A lot of times you can get by with a simple if/else check.

Error handling goes hand in hand with secure coding practices, as there are a lot of "errors" that don't cause your script to simply crash. while not being strictly about error handling per se, addedbytes has a good 4 article series on some of the basics of secure PHP programming which you can find HERE. There are a lot of other questions here on stackoverflow on topics such as mysql_real_escape_string and Regular Expressions which can be very powerful in confirming the content of user entered data.