What is 22527 in error_reporting 22527 of phpinfo

Question

In my local dev env, I use PHP Version 5.3.3-1ubuntu9.2.

Now when I see error_reporting, the value is 22527.

What is 22527?

I checked http://www.php

Answer 1

NEVER use the numeric value to set your error reporting, as the meaning of that value can change but the meaning of the constants (like E_ALL, E_STRICT, etc) likely will not:

The new error_reporting level. It takes on either a bitmask, or named constants. Using named constants is strongly encouraged to ensure compatibility for future versions. As error levels are added, the range of integers increases, so older integer-based error levels will not always behave as expected.

(and note that as of PHP 5.4, E_ALL now includes E_STRICT)

IF you want the strictest reporting forever and ever, you could set error_reporting to a very large number in order to guarantee(?) that you will report all errors forever :

Using PHP Constants outside of PHP, like in httpd.conf, will have no useful meaning so in such cases the integer values are required. And since error levels will be added over time, the maximum value (for E_ALL) will likely change. So in place of E_ALL consider using a larger value to cover all bit fields from now and well into the future, a numeric value like 2147483647 (includes all errors, not just E_ALL).

Check your php.ini for the value of error_reporting in human-readable PHP constants format. The phpinfo() function appears to always show the numeric value rather than showing the constants.

But, personally, I leave php.ini with the default values for error reporting. Instead I just put the error reporting function at the top of whatever php script I'm working on to override the defaults. e.g.:

error_reporting(E_ALL | E_STRICT);