isset

(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)

isset — Prüft, ob eine Variable deklariert ist und sich von null unterscheidet

Beschreibung

isset(mixed $var, mixed ...$vars): bool

Prüft, ob eine Variable als belegt gilt, d.h., ob eine Variable deklariert ist und sich von null unterscheidet.

Wenn eine Variable mittels unset() zurückgesetzt wurde, gilt sie nicht länger als belegt.

isset() gibt false zurück, wenn damit eine Variable geprüft wird, der null zugewiesen wurde. Zu beachten ist auch, dass ein Nullzeichen ("\0") nicht der PHP-Konstante null entspricht.

Wenn mehrere Parameter übergeben werden, gibt isset() nur dann true zurück, wenn alle Parameter als belegt gelten. Die Auswertung geht von links nach rechts und wird abgebrochen, sobald eine Variable nicht belegt ist.

Parameter-Liste

var: Die zu überprüfende Variable.
vars: Eine weitere Variable ...

Rückgabewerte

Gibt true zurück, wenn var existiert und einen von null verschiedenen Wert hat, andernfalls false.

Beispiele

Beispiel #1 isset()-Beispiele

<?php

$var = '';

// Dieser Ausdruck wird zu TRUE ausgewertet, also wird der Text angezeigt
if (isset($var)) {
    echo "Die Variable ist gesetzt, also wird etwas ausgegeben.";
}

// In den nächsten Beispielen wird var_dump() benutzt, um den Rückgabewert von
// isset() auszugeben.

$a = "test";
$b = "anothertest";

var_dump(isset($a));     // TRUE
var_dump(isset($a, $b)); // TRUE

unset ($a);

var_dump(isset($a));     // FALSE
var_dump(isset($a, $b)); // FALSE

$foo = NULL;
var_dump(isset($foo));   // FALSE

?>

Die funktioniert ebenfalls für Arrayelemente:

<?php


$a = array ('test' => 1, 'hello' => NULL, 'pie' => array('a' => 'apple'));

var_dump(isset($a['test']));            // TRUE
var_dump(isset($a['foo']));             // FALSE
var_dump(isset($a['hello']));           // FALSE

// Der Schlüssel 'hello' hat den Wert NULL,
// daher wird sein Inhalt nicht betrachtet.
// Wenn man herausfinden will, ob ein
// Schlüssel mit dem Wert NULL vorhanden
// ist, verwendet man:
var_dump(array_key_exists('hello', $a)); // TRUE

// Tiefer verschachtelte Array-Strukturen prüfen:
var_dump(isset($a['pie']['a']));        // TRUE
var_dump(isset($a['pie']['b']));        // FALSE
var_dump(isset($a['cake']['a']['b']));  // FALSE
?>

Beispiel #2 isset() und Zeichenketten-Offsets

<?php
$expected_array_got_string = 'einstring';
var_dump(isset($expected_array_got_string['ein_schluessel']));
var_dump(isset($expected_array_got_string[0]));
var_dump(isset($expected_array_got_string['0']));
var_dump(isset($expected_array_got_string[0.5]));
var_dump(isset($expected_array_got_string['0.5']));
var_dump(isset($expected_array_got_string['0 Mostel']));
?>

Das oben gezeigte Beispiel erzeugt folgende Ausgabe:

bool(false)
bool(true)
bool(true)
bool(true)
bool(false)
bool(false)

Anmerkungen

Warnung

isset() funktioniert nur mit Variablen, da der Aufruf mit etwas anderem einen Parse-Error verursacht. Um zu überprüfen, ob Konstanten gesetzt sind, sollte die Funktion defined() benutzt werden.

Hinweis: Da dies ein Sprachkonstrukt und keine Funktion ist, können Sie dieses nicht mit Variablenfunktionen oder benannten Parametern verwenden.

Hinweis:
Bei Aufruf von isset() auf nicht-öffentliche Objekteigenschaften wird die überladene Methode __isset aufgerufen, falls deklariert.

Siehe auch

empty() - Prüft, ob eine Variable leer ist
__isset
unset() - Löschen einer angegebenen Variablen
defined() - Prüft, ob eine Konstante mit dem angegebenen Namen existiert
die Tabelle zum Typenvergleich
array_key_exists() - Prüft, ob ein gegebener Schlüssel in einem Array existiert
is_null() - Prüft, ob eine Variable null enthält
Fehler-Kontroll-Operator @

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User Contributed Notes 19 notes

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110

p_ignorethis_lbowers at gmail dot com ¶

8 years ago


I, too, was dismayed to find that isset($foo) returns false if ($foo == null). Here's an (awkward) way around it.

unset($foo);
if (compact('foo') != array()) {
  do_your_thing();
}

Of course, that is very non-intuitive, long, hard-to-understand, and kludgy. Better to design your code so you don't depend on the difference between an unset variable and a variable with the value null. But "better" only because PHP has made this weird development choice.

In my thinking this was a mistake in the development of PHP. The name ("isset") should describe the function and not have the desciption be "is set AND is not null". If it was done properly a programmer could very easily do (isset($var) || is_null($var)) if they wanted to check for this!

A variable set to null is a different state than a variable not set - there should be some easy way to differentiate. Just my (pointless) $0.02.

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kurdtpage at gmail dot com ¶

8 years ago


The new (as of PHP7) 'null coalesce operator' allows shorthand isset. You can use it like so:

<?php
// Fetches the value of $_GET['user'] and returns 'nobody'
// if it does not exist.
$username = $_GET['user'] ?? 'nobody';
// This is equivalent to:
$username = isset($_GET['user']) ? $_GET['user'] : 'nobody';

// Coalescing can be chained: this will return the first
// defined value out of $_GET['user'], $_POST['user'], and
// 'nobody'.
$username = $_GET['user'] ?? $_POST['user'] ?? 'nobody';
?>

Quoted from http://php.net/manual/en/migration70.new-features.php#migration70.new-features.null-coalesce-op

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eckoson at gmail dot com ¶

1 year ago


If you are annoyed by the behavior of isset() concerning null values, here is a handy function for you. its similar to array_key_exists but, its a lot more flexible and can check for multiple array keys across multiple arrays.
Not recursive!
Tested on php 8.1.6, linux
<?php
/**
* is_set
* @author DJ Eckoson
* @link @eckosongh Facebook Page
* checks whether variable names are set within the global space or they exists as an key and return if they are set (even if their values are null)
* @param string $var_name
*   name of the first variable to check
* @param array|null|string
*   optional array to check for key (if null, checks from $GLOBALS) OR
*   other variable names to check OR
*   other variable names and their associated arrays to their right (use null for global variables, optional if its the last parameter)
* check examples below
*/
function is_set(string $var_name, array|null|string ... $args): bool {
  $vars[$var_name] = null;
  if (array_key_exists(0, $args)) {
    if (is_array($args[0])) {
      $vars[$var_name] = $args[0];
    } elseif (is_string($args[0])) {
      goto main;
    }
    unset($args[0]);
  }
  main:
  if ($args) {
    $args = array_reverse($args);
    $cur_array = null;
    array_walk($args, function ($value) use (&$cur_array, &$vars): void {
      if (!is_string($value)) {
        $cur_array = $value;
      } else {
        $vars[$value] = $cur_array;
      }
    });
  }
  foreach ($vars as $name => $array) {
    if (!array_key_exists($name, $array??$GLOBALS)) return false;
  }
  return true;
}

// Examples
$arr1 = range(0, 5);
$arr2 = [
  'a' => 1,
  'b' => 2,
  'c' => 'hELLO wORLD!'
];
$gender = 'male';
$age = 12;
var_dump(is_set('age')); // true
var_dump(is_set('age', null)); // true
var_dump(is_set('age', $arr1)); // false
var_dump(is_set('age', array())); // false
var_dump(is_set('age', array('age' => 48))); // true
var_dump(is_set('age', 'arr1', null, 'b', $arr2, 0, 3, 4, $arr1, 'gender')); // true
var_dump(is_set('age', 'arr1', null, 'b', $arr2, 0, 3, 4, $arr1, 'gender', null)); // true

$c=$d=$e=$a=2;
$arr = [1,4];
var_dump(is_set('a', 'c', null, 0, 1, $arr)); // true
var_dump(is_set('a', 'c', null, 0, 4, $arr)); // false
?>
 Note:
 it won't work for variables declared locally inside a function;
 however you can use it for checking if array keys exists inside a function

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a dot schaffhirt at sedna-soft dot de ¶

16 years ago


You can safely use isset to check properties and subproperties of objects directly. So instead of writing

    isset($abc) && isset($abc->def) && isset($abc->def->ghi)

or in a shorter form

    isset($abc, $abc->def, $abc->def->ghi)

you can just write

    isset ($abc->def->ghi)

without raising any errors, warnings or notices.

Examples
<?php
    $abc = (object) array("def" => 123);
    var_dump(isset($abc));                // bool(true)
    var_dump(isset($abc->def));           // bool(true)
    var_dump(isset($abc->def->ghi));      // bool(false)
    var_dump(isset($abc->def->ghi->jkl)); // bool(false)
    var_dump(isset($def));                // bool(false)
    var_dump(isset($def->ghi));           // bool(false)
    var_dump(isset($def->ghi->jkl));      // bool(false)

    var_dump($abc);                       // object(stdClass)#1 (1) { ["def"] => int(123) }
    var_dump($abc->def);                  // int(123)
    var_dump($abc->def->ghi);             // null / E_NOTICE: Trying to get property of non-object
    var_dump($abc->def->ghi->jkl);        // null / E_NOTICE: Trying to get property of non-object
    var_dump($def);                       // null / E_NOTICE: Trying to get property of non-object
    var_dump($def->ghi);                  // null / E_NOTICE: Trying to get property of non-object
    var_dump($def->ghi->jkl);             // null / E_NOTICE: Trying to get property of non-object
?>

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yaogzhan at gmail dot com ¶

19 years ago


If you have 



<?PHP

class Foo

{

    protected $data = array('bar' => null);



    function __get($p)

    {

        if( isset($this->data[$p]) ) return $this->data[$p];

    }

}

?>



and

<?PHP

$foo = new Foo;

echo isset($foo->bar);

?>

will always echo 'false'. because the isset() accepts VARIABLES as it parameters, but in this case, $foo->bar is NOT a VARIABLE. it is a VALUE returned from the __get() method of the class Foo. thus the isset($foo->bar) expreesion will always equal 'false'.

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beuc at beuc dot net ¶

18 years ago


"empty() is the opposite of (boolean) var, except that no warning is generated when the variable is not set."

So essentially
<?php
if (isset($var) && $var)
?>
is the same as
<?php
if (!empty($var))
?>
doesn't it? :)

!empty() mimics the chk() function posted before.

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soywiz at php dot net ¶

18 years ago


Sometimes you have to check if an array has some keys. To achieve it you can use "isset" like this: isset($array['key1'], $array['key2'], $array['key3'], $array['key4'])
You have to write $array all times and it is reiterative if you use same array each time.

With this simple function you can check if an array has some keys:

<?php
function isset_array() {
    if (func_num_args() < 2) return true;
    $args = func_get_args();
    $array = array_shift($args);
    if (!is_array($array)) return false;
    foreach ($args as $n) if (!isset($array[$n])) return false;
    return true;
}
?>

Use: isset_array($array, 'key1', 'key2', 'key3', 'key4')
First parameter has the array; following parameters has the keys you want to check.

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ayyappan dot ashok at gmail dot com ¶

8 years ago


Return Values :
Returns TRUE if var exists and has value other than NULL, FALSE otherwise.

<?php
$a=NULL;
$b=FALSE; //The out put was TRUE. 
$c=TRUE;
$d='';
$e="";
if(isset($b)):
echo "TRUE";
else:
echo "FALSE";    
endif;
?>
Could any one explain me in clarity.

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mandos78 AT mail from google ¶

16 years ago


Careful with this function "ifsetfor" by soapergem, passing by reference means that if, like the example $_GET['id'], the argument is an array index, it will be created in the original array (with a null value), thus causing posible trouble with the following code. At least in PHP 5.

For example:

<?php
$a = array();
print_r($a);
ifsetor($a["unsetindex"], 'default');
print_r($a);
?>

will print 

Array
(
)
Array
(
    [unsetindex] => 
)

Any foreach or similar will be different before and after the call.

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Cuong Huy To ¶

13 years ago


1) Note that isset($var) doesn't distinguish the two cases when $var is undefined, or is null. Evidence is in the following code.



<?php

unset($undefined);

$null = null;

if (true === isset($undefined)){echo 'isset($undefined) === true'} else {echo 'isset($undefined) === false'); // 'isset($undefined) === false'

if (true === isset($null)){echo 'isset($null) === true'} else {echo 'isset($null) === false');              // 'isset($null)      === false'

?>



2) If you want to distinguish undefined variable with a defined variable with a null value, then use array_key_exist



<?php

unset($undefined);

$null = null;



if (true !== array_key_exists('undefined', get_defined_vars())) {echo '$undefined does not exist';} else {echo '$undefined exists';} // '$undefined does not exist'

if (true === array_key_exists('null', get_defined_vars())) {echo '$null exists';} else {echo '$null does not exist';}                // '$null exists'

?>

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andreasonny83 at gmail dot com ¶

9 years ago


Here is an example with multiple parameters supplied

<?php
$var = array();
$var['val1'] = 'test';
$var['val2'] = 'on';

if ( isset( $var['val1'], $var['val2'] ) && $var['val2'] === 'on' ) {
    unset( $var['val1'] );
}
print_r( $var );
?>

This will output:
Array
(
    [val2] => on
)

The following code does the same calling "isset" 2 times:

<?php
$var = array();
$var['val1'] = 'test';
$var['val2'] = 'on';

if ( isset( $var['val1'] ) && isset( $var['val2'] ) && $var['val2'] === 'on' ) {
    unset( $var['val1'] );
}
print_r( $var );
?>

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francois vespa ¶

14 years ago


Now this is how to achieve the same effect (ie, having isset() returning true even if variable has been set to null) for objects and arrays

<?php

// array

$array=array('foo'=>null);

return isset($array['foo']) || array_key_exists('foo',$array) 
  ? true : false ; // return true

return isset($array['inexistent']) || array_key_exists('inexistent',$array) 
  ? true : false ; // return false

// static class

class bar

{
  static $foo=null;
}

return isset(bar::$foo) || array_key_exists('foo',get_class_vars('bar'))
  ? true : false ; // return true

return isset(bar::$inexistent) || array_key_exists('inexistent',get_class_vars('bar'))
  ? true : false ; // return false

// object

class bar
{
    public $foo=null;
}

$bar=new bar();

return isset($bar->foo) || array_key_exists('foo',get_object_vars($bar)) 
  ? true : false ; // return true

return isset($bar->inexistent) || array_key_exists('inexistent',get_object_vars($bar)) 
  ? true : false ; // return true

// stdClass

$bar=new stdClass;
$bar->foo=null;

return isset($bar->foo) || array_key_exists('foo',get_object_vars($bar)) 
  ? true : false ; // return true

return isset($bar->inexistent) || array_key_exists('inexistent',get_object_vars($bar)) 
  ? true : false ; // return true

?>

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Andrew Penry ¶

19 years ago


The following is an example of how to test if a variable is set, whether or not it is NULL. It makes use of the fact that an unset variable will throw an E_NOTICE error, but one initialized as NULL will not. 

<?php

function var_exists($var){
    if (empty($GLOBALS['var_exists_err'])) {
        return true;
    } else {
        unset($GLOBALS['var_exists_err']);
        return false;
    }
}

function var_existsHandler($errno, $errstr, $errfile, $errline) {
   $GLOBALS['var_exists_err'] = true;
}

$l = NULL;
set_error_handler("var_existsHandler", E_NOTICE);
echo (var_exists($l)) ? "True " : "False ";
echo (var_exists($k)) ? "True " : "False ";
restore_error_handler();

?>

Outputs:
True False

The problem is, the set_error_handler and restore_error_handler calls can not be inside the function, which means you need 2 extra lines of code every time you are testing. And if you have any E_NOTICE errors caused by other code between the set_error_handler and restore_error_handler they will not be dealt with properly. One solution:

<?php

function var_exists($var){
   if (empty($GLOBALS['var_exists_err'])) {
       return true;
   } else {
       unset($GLOBALS['var_exists_err']);
       return false;
   }
}

function var_existsHandler($errno, $errstr, $errfile, $errline) {
    $filearr = file($errfile);
    if (strpos($filearr[$errline-1], 'var_exists') !== false) {
        $GLOBALS['var_exists_err'] = true;
        return true;
    } else {
        return false;
    }
}

$l = NULL;
set_error_handler("var_existsHandler", E_NOTICE);
echo (var_exists($l)) ? "True " : "False ";
echo (var_exists($k)) ? "True " : "False ";
is_null($j);
restore_error_handler();

?>

Outputs:
True False
Notice: Undefined variable: j in filename.php on line 26

This will make the handler only handle var_exists, but it adds a lot of overhead. Everytime an E_NOTICE error happens, the file it originated from will be loaded into an array.

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packard_bell_nec at hotmail dot com ¶

17 years ago


Note: isset() only checks variables as anything else will result in a parse error. In other words, the following will not work: isset(trim($name)). 

isset() is the opposite of is_null($var) , except that no warning is generated when the variable is not set.

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Ashus ¶

16 years ago


Note that array keys are case sensitive.

<?php
$ar['w'] = true;

var_dump(isset($ar['w']),
      isset($ar['W']));
?>

will report:
bool(true) bool(false)

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Anl zselgin ¶

15 years ago


Note: Because this is a language construct and not a function, it cannot be called using variable functions.

So why it is under "Variable handling Functions". Maybe there should be some good documentation field for language constructs.

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Hayley Watson ¶

7 years ago


If you regard isset() as indicating whether the given variable has a value or not, and recall that NULL is intended to indicate that a value is _absent_ (as said, somewhat awkwardly, on its manual page), then its behaviour is not at all inconsistent or confusing.

It's not just to check for uninitialised variables - a lot of the time those are just due to sloppy coding. There are other ways a variable could fail to have a value (e.g., it's meant to hold the value returned from a function call but the function didn't have a value to return) where uninitialising the variable would not be an option nor even make sense (e.g., depending on what was to be done with the returned value).

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-1

Tee Cee ¶

18 years ago


In response to 10-Feb-2006 06:02, isset($v) is in all (except possibly buggy) cases equivalent to !is_null($v). And no, it doesn't actually test if a variable is set or not by my definition "$v is set if unset($v) has no effect".

<?php
unset($c); //force $c to be unset
var_dump($a=&$c); // NULL, but this actually sets $a and $c to the 'same' NULL.
var_dump(isset($c)); // bool(false)
var_dump($a = 5); // int(5)
var_dump($c); // int(5)

unset($c);
var_dump($a=&$c); // NULL
var_dump(isset($c)); // bool(false)
unset($c);
var_dump($a = 5); // int(5)
var_dump($c); // NULL
?>

In the following example, we see an alternate method of testing if a variable is actually set or not:
<?php
var_dump(array_key_exists('c',get_defined_vars())); // false 
var_dump(isset($c));                                // also false
var_dump($c);                                       // manipulate $c a bit...
var_dump((string)$c);
var_dump(print_r($c,true));
var_dump($a=$c);
var_dump(array_key_exists('c',get_defined_vars())); // ... still false
var_dump($c = NULL);                                // this sets $c
var_dump(array_key_exists('c',get_defined_vars())); // true!
var_dump(isset($c));                                // false; isset() still says it's unset
unset($c);                                          // actually unset it
var_dump(array_key_exists('c',get_defined_vars())); // false
var_dump($a=&$c);                                           
var_dump(array_key_exists('c',get_defined_vars())); // true!
unset($c);                                          // unset it again
var_dump(&$c);                                      // &NULL
var_dump(array_key_exists('c',get_defined_vars())); // true!
?>

Obviously, null values take up space (or they wouldn't show up in get_defined_vars). Also, note that &$v sets $v to NULL if it is unset.

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-2

randallgirard at hotmail dot com ¶

18 years ago


The unexpected results of isset has been really frustrating to me. Hence, it doesn't work how you'd think it would, (as documented) a var currently in the scope with a null value will return false.



Heres a quick solution, perhaps there are better ways of going about this, but heres my solution...



<?php

function is_set( $varname, $parent=null ) {

  if ( !is_array( $parent ) && !is_object($parent) ) {

    $parent = $GLOBALS;

  }

  return array_key_exists( $varname, $parent );

}

?>



Hence, $varname should be a mixed value of var's to check for, and $parent can be an array or object, which will default to the GLOBAL scope. See the documentation of array_key_exists for further information.



This will allow to check if a var is in the current scope, object, or array... Whether it's a null, false, true, or any value. It depends on ARRAY_KEY_EXISTS for it's functionality which also works with Objects. Feel free to improve on this anyone ;D

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