Can I shorten isset() and == in PHP?

Question

I was wondering if there is a shorter way to perform this if condition:

if(isset($somVar) && $someVar == 'some value')

I tried:

if($someVar === 'some value')

Answer 1

If you can ensure that $someVar is always existing, you can skip the isset() part - otherwise you will get a PHP notice if the variable does not exist.

Also note that there is a substantial difference between == and ===.

So I conclude that you cannot shorten that expression.

Answer 2

As far as I know there's not really another 'clean' way, however...

1. You could turn off error reporting

2. Alternatively, you could declare your variable in advance

   $somVar = null;
   
   // do what you must
   
   if ($somVar == 'some value') ...
   

3. Thirdly, you could manually suppress error messages (works in php 5.5)

   if (@$someVar == 'some value') ...