@ character before a function call

Question

What is the difference between these two function calls in PHP?

init_get($somevariable);

@init_get($somevariable);

Answer 1

http://www.faqts.com/knowledge_base/view.phtml/aid/18068/fid/38

All PHP expressions can be called with the "@" prefix, which turns off error reporting for that particular expression.

Answer 2

It silences errors and warnings. See Error Control Operators.

Answer 3

the "@" will silence any php errors your function could raise.

Answer 4

As already answered the @ will stop the error (if any) from showing up.
In terms of performance this is not recommended.

What php is doing is:

• reading the error display state
• setting the error display to show no errors
• running your function
• setting the error display to it's previous state

If you don't want any errors showing up use error_reporting(0);.

Or just write bug free code :P

Answer 5

As everyone said, it stops the output of errors for that particular function. However, this decreases performance greatly since it has to change the error display setting twice. I would recommend NOT ignoring warnings or errors and fixing the code instead.