How to "return false" and send a message with it?

Question

Is there any option in PHP for "returning false" from a function and sending a corresponding message with this (as in what went wrong)?

Is an exception a better way to achieve this?

Answer 1

throwing an exception is always good, but it is not literally equal return false
but if logic can withstand the exception, then it can be thrown away. May be of a specific type, not a general Exception though

Answer 2

Yes, use exceptions; if you catch an exception, you can set the variable to false and also receive an error message.

 function foo($a = null) { if(!$a) { throw new Exception('$a must be defined'); } } try { $var = foo(); } catch(Exception $e) { $var = false; echo $e->getMessage(); } 

That way, you can do whatever you want when something goes wrong.

Answer 3

You can change your function to return true or false on success or failure and return the variable to the parameter passed by reference.

those. edit:

 function foo() { return true; } 

to

 function foo(&$ret) { if ( $something_went_wrong) return false; $ret = true; return true; } 

Answer 4

 function bla(){ return false; } if(bla() === false){ echo "Failed"; } 

But I think exceptions are better.