PHP: Are these statements equivalent? (file_exists()) - php

Aren't these equivalent?
==SCRIPT A==
if (file_exists($file) == false) {
return false;
}
==SCRIPT B==
if(!file_exists($file)) {
return false;
}

Plain answer: Y E S
They evaluate to the same thing.
That first one might be even better suited like this:
if (file_exists($file) === false) { // === checks type and value
return false;
}
OR:
return file_exists($file);

yes, file_exists returns a boolean, so it's either true or false.
so you could return file_exists($file) as well...

If you are making boolean comparisons, then you would rather do this:
if (file_exists($file) === false) {
return false;
}
using the === operator, to ensure that what you are receiving is a variable of type boolean and of value equivalent to false.

Yes.
But if you would use:
if (file_exists($file) === false) {
return false;
}
then it would not be the same as:
if(!file_exists($file)) {
return false;
}
because in the first case it would check whether the value returned by function matches strictly to false, and in the second case the value returned by function would be evaluated to boolean value.
EDIT:
That is general rule.
But in case of file_exists() function, which returns boolean value, evaluating to boolean is not necessary, thus you can use strict condition and this will have the same result (but only in case you know the value will be either true or false.

If you're asking "what's the difference between the === and == operator" then:
'===' is a strict comparison that checks the types of both sides.
'==' is an 'equivalent to' comparison operator that will cast either side to the appropriate type if deemed necessary.
To expand, '==' can be used to check for 'falsey' values and '===' can be used to check for exact matches.
if (1 == TRUE) echo 'test';
>> "test"
if (1 === TRUE) echo 'test';
>>
If you're asking if there's any functional / practical difference between your two code blocks then no, there isn't and you should be returning as such: return file_exists($file);
Worth a read:
http://php.net/manual/en/language.operators.comparison.php

Related

strpos function error. I'm trying to parse MRZ from string [duplicate]

if(strpos("http://www.example.com","http://www.")==0){ // do work}
I'd expect this to resolve as true, which it does. But what happens when I do
if(strpos("abcdefghijklmnop","http://www.")==0){// do work}
This also passes on php 5 because as far as I can work out the strpos returns false which translates as 0.
Is this correct thinking/behaviour? If so what is the workaround for testing for that a substring is at the beginning of another string?
Yes, this is correct / expected behavior :
strpos can return 0 when there is a match at the beginning of the string
and it will return false when there is no match
The thing is you should not use == to compare 0 and false ; you should use ===, like this :
if(strpos("abcdefghijklmnop","http://www.") === 0) {
}
Or :
if(strpos("abcdefghijklmnop","http://www.") === false) {
}
For more informations, see Comparison Operators :
$a == $b will be TRUE if $a is equal to $b.
$a === $b will be TRUE if $a is equal to $b, and they are of the same type.
And, quoting the manual page of strpos :
This function may return Boolean
FALSE, but may also return a
non-Boolean value which evaluates to
FALSE, such as 0 or "". Please
read the section on Booleans for
more information. Use the ===
operator for testing the return
value of this function.
=== and !== compare type and value as shown below:
if (strpos("abcdefghijklmnop", "http://www.") !== false) {
// do work
}
strpos returns an int or boolean false. the == operator also evaluates 0 to mean false, you want to use the === operator (three equals signs) that also checks that the types being compared are the same instead of just seeing if they can be evaluated to mean the same.
so
if (strpos($hastack, $needle) === 0)
{
// the $needle is found at position 0 in the $haystack
}
0 is a possible return value from strpos when it finds a match at the very beginning. In case if the match is not found it returns false(boolean). So you need to check the return value of strpos using the === operator which check the value and the type rather than using == which just checks value.
I personally tend to use this way :
if(!strpos($v,'ttp:'))$v='http://'.$v;
or
if(strpos(' '.$v,'http'))
to avoid the "0" position then always make it a number more than 0
cheers

If statement is true OR not false [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
Is there a difference between !== and != in PHP?
(7 answers)
difference between != and !== [duplicate]
(4 answers)
The 3 different equals
(5 answers)
Closed 3 years ago.
I have two statements like this:
$ready = true;
if($ready === true) {
echo "it's ready!";
}
And this:
$ready = true;
if($ready !== false) {
echo "it's ready!";
}
I know those mean the same thing as === true and !== false is the same thing. I see people use the negation type (is not false or is not {something}). like this: https://stackoverflow.com/a/4366748/4357238
But what are the pros and cons of using one or the other? Are there any performance benefits? Any coding benefits? I would think it is confusing to use the negation type rather than the straight forward === true. Any input would be appreciated! thank you
These do not mean the same thing, and you can see this demonstrated below:
$ready = undefined;
if($ready === true) {
console.log("it's ready 1");
}
if($ready !== false) {
console.log("it's ready 2");
}
When in doubt, stick with ===. You're comparing to exactly what it should be. "This should exactly be equal to true" vs "This should be equal to anything but exactly false" are 2 separate statements, the second including a lot of values that would be true (As demonstrated above, undefined is not exactly false, so this would be true).
Most PHP functions return false as failure, such as strpos, from the manual it says:
Returns the position of where the needle exists relative to the
beginning of the haystack string (independent of offset). Also note
that string positions start at 0, and not 1.
Returns FALSE if the needle was not found.
So it returns an integer or false, then it is wrong to use strpos() === true
strpos() !== false is the right way to check the result.
It is not about performance and they are not the same. It helps us in reducing unnecessary if else statements.
Consider this: there is a variable foobarbaz whose value can be anything among foo/ bar/ baz/ foobar/ barbaz. You need to execute a statement if the value is not foo. So instead of writing like this:
if(foobarbaz === "bar" || foobarbaz === "baz" || foobarbaz === "foobar" || foobarbaz === "barbaz") {
//some statement
}
else if(foobarbaz === "foo") {
//do nothing
}
You can write something like this:
if(foobarbaz !== "foo") {
//some statement
}
You can see we were able to eliminate the unnecessary else statement.
In php == compare only the values are equal. For and example
$ready = 'true';
if($ready == true) {
echo "true";
}
else{
echo "false";
}
It print true.But if it is compare with === it not only check the values but also it check the datatype. So it compares with === it print the false.
Talking about !== it's work as the same. So it's not a problem to output if you use
if($ready === true)
or
if($ready !== false)
Can't compare these two because both are same.

Php "" and 0 return same value

$page_now=array_search($id, $user_id);
if($page_now==""){return TURE;}
else{return FALSE}//include [0]index
I have an array_search, if it can't find the match it will return "",
However I have problem on [0] index
if the search index return 0 which is 1st one from array.
if statement $page_now=="" & $page_now==0 both are return TURE
Try this
$var=0;
if($var!=""){echo "have value in var";}else{echo "no value in var";}
I want it return have value even it is 0
This is a documented behavior:
http://php.net/array_search
http://php.net/manual/en/types.comparisons.php
http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.types.type-juggling.php
Warning
This function may return Boolean FALSE, but may also return a
non-Boolean value which evaluates to FALSE. Please read the section on
Booleans for more information. Use the === operator for testing the
return value of this function.
Also make sure you are aware about this:
strict
If the third parameter strict is set to TRUE then the
array_search() function will search for identical elements in the
haystack. This means it will also check the types of the needle in the
haystack, and objects must be the same instance.
You should use strict comparison operator === if you don't want to fall into dark abyss of PHP weak-types comparisons:
php > var_dump(0 == "0afca13435"); // oops, password's hash check went wrong :)
bool(true)
php > var_dump(0 == false);
bool(true)
BUT:
php > var_dump(false == "0afca13435");
bool(false)
// Uh, oh :) that's because int and string comparison will cast string to int,
// and in php string->int cast will return either 0 or any numeric prefix the
// string contain; bool and string comparison will cast string to bool, and
// numeric prefix is no longer an issue
----------
php > var_dump(false == "");
bool(true)
php > var_dump(0 == "");
bool(true)
// WTF! :)
And with strict:
php > var_dump(0 === "0afca13435");
bool(false)
// ahh, much better
The function array_search() returns false if it can't find the match. So you should use strict comparison operator === and compare it with false:
if($page_now===false) {
return true;
}
else {
return false;
}
try this (the empty checks if the variable is empty (""(empty string), 0, false, null etc ) is counted as empty (and will trigger this)
your code is now not checking if something is empty you only check if it isn't "" and null etc. will be triggered as not empty.
if(empty($page_now)){
return true;
}else{
return false;
}
if it is allowed to be 0 you can use this
if(empty($page_now) && $page_now != 0){
return true;
}else{
return false;
}

Does PHP have short-circuit evaluation?

Given the following code:
if (is_valid($string) && up_to_length($string) && file_exists($file))
{
......
}
If is_valid($string) returns false, does the php interpreter still check later conditions, like up_to_length($string)?
If so, then why does it do extra work when it doesn't have to?
Yes, the PHP interpreter is "lazy", meaning it will do the minimum number of comparisons possible to evaluate conditions.
If you want to verify that, try this:
function saySomething()
{
echo 'hi!';
return true;
}
if (false && saySomething())
{
echo 'statement evaluated to true';
}
Yes, it does. Here's a little trick that relies on short-circuit evaluation. Sometimes you might have a small if statement that you'd prefer to write as a ternary, e.g.:
if ($confirmed) {
$answer = 'Yes';
} else {
$answer = 'No';
}
Can be re-written as:
$answer = $confirmed ? 'Yes' : 'No';
But then what if the yes block also required some function to be run?
if ($confirmed) {
do_something();
$answer = 'Yes';
} else {
$answer = 'No';
}
Well, rewriting as ternary is still possible, because of short-circuit evaluation:
$answer = $confirmed && (do_something() || true) ? 'Yes' : 'No';
In this case the expression (do_something() || true) does nothing to alter the overall outcome of the ternary, but ensures that the ternary condition stays true, ignoring the return value of do_something().
Bitwise operators are & and |.
They always evaluate both operands.
Logical operators are AND, OR, &&, and ||.
All four operators only evaluate the right side if they need to.
AND and OR have lower precedence than && and ||. See example below.
From the PHP manual:
// The result of the expression (false || true) is assigned to $e
// Acts like: ($e = (false || true))
$e = false || true;
// The constant false is assigned to $f before the "or" operation occurs
// Acts like: (($f = false) or true)
$f = false or true;
In this example, e will be true and f will be false.
Based on my research now, PHP doesn't seem to have the same && short circuit operator as JavaScript.
I ran this test:
$one = true;
$two = 'Cabbage';
$test = $one && $two;
echo $test;
and PHP 7.0.8 returned 1, not Cabbage.
No, it doesn't anymore check the other conditions if the first condition isn't satisfied.
I've create my own short-circuit evaluation logic, unfortunately it's nothing like javascripts quick syntax, but perhaps this is a solution you might find useful:
$short_circuit_isset = function($var, $default_value = NULL) {
return (isset($var)) ? : $default_value;
};
$return_title = $short_circuit_isset( $_GET['returntitle'], 'God');
// Should return type 'String' value 'God', if get param is not set
I can not recall where I got the following logic from, but if you do the following;
(isset($var)) ? : $default_value;
You can skip having to write the true condition variable again, after the question mark, e.g:
(isset($super_long_var_name)) ? $super_long_var_name : $default_value;
As very important observation, when using the Ternary Operator this way, you'll notice that if a comparison is made it will just pass the value of that comparison, since there isn't just a single variable. E.g:
$num = 1;
$num2 = 2;
var_dump( ($num < $num2) ? : 'oh snap' );
// outputs bool 'true'
My choice: do not trust Short Circuit evaluation in PHP...
function saySomething()
{
print ('hi!');
return true;
}
if (1 || saySomething())
{
print('statement evaluated to true');
}
The second part in the condition 1 || saySomething() is irrelevant, because this will always return true. Unfortunately saySomething() is evaluated & executed.
Maybe I'm misunderstood the exact logic of short-circuiting expressions, but this doesn't look like "it will do the minimum number of comparisons possible" to me.
Moreover, it's not only a performance concern, if you do assignments inside comparisons or if you do something that makes a difference, other than just comparing stuff, you could end with different results.
Anyway... be careful.
Side note: If you want to avoid the lazy check and run every part of the condition, in that case you need to use the logical AND like this:
if (condition1 & condition2) {
echo "both true";
}
else {
echo "one or both false";
}
This is useful when you need for example call two functions even if the first one returned false.

php 5 strpos() difference between returning 0 and false?

if(strpos("http://www.example.com","http://www.")==0){ // do work}
I'd expect this to resolve as true, which it does. But what happens when I do
if(strpos("abcdefghijklmnop","http://www.")==0){// do work}
This also passes on php 5 because as far as I can work out the strpos returns false which translates as 0.
Is this correct thinking/behaviour? If so what is the workaround for testing for that a substring is at the beginning of another string?
Yes, this is correct / expected behavior :
strpos can return 0 when there is a match at the beginning of the string
and it will return false when there is no match
The thing is you should not use == to compare 0 and false ; you should use ===, like this :
if(strpos("abcdefghijklmnop","http://www.") === 0) {
}
Or :
if(strpos("abcdefghijklmnop","http://www.") === false) {
}
For more informations, see Comparison Operators :
$a == $b will be TRUE if $a is equal to $b.
$a === $b will be TRUE if $a is equal to $b, and they are of the same type.
And, quoting the manual page of strpos :
This function may return Boolean
FALSE, but may also return a
non-Boolean value which evaluates to
FALSE, such as 0 or "". Please
read the section on Booleans for
more information. Use the ===
operator for testing the return
value of this function.
=== and !== compare type and value as shown below:
if (strpos("abcdefghijklmnop", "http://www.") !== false) {
// do work
}
strpos returns an int or boolean false. the == operator also evaluates 0 to mean false, you want to use the === operator (three equals signs) that also checks that the types being compared are the same instead of just seeing if they can be evaluated to mean the same.
so
if (strpos($hastack, $needle) === 0)
{
// the $needle is found at position 0 in the $haystack
}
0 is a possible return value from strpos when it finds a match at the very beginning. In case if the match is not found it returns false(boolean). So you need to check the return value of strpos using the === operator which check the value and the type rather than using == which just checks value.
I personally tend to use this way :
if(!strpos($v,'ttp:'))$v='http://'.$v;
or
if(strpos(' '.$v,'http'))
to avoid the "0" position then always make it a number more than 0
cheers

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