PHP shorthand for isset()? [duplicate]

January 2, 2023 by Tarik

Update for PHP 7 (thanks shock_gone_wild)

PHP 7 introduces the null coalescing operator which simplifies the below statements to:

$var = $var ?? "default";

Before PHP 7

No, there is no special operator or special syntax for this. However, you could use the ternary operator:

$var = isset($var) ? $var : "default";

Or like this:

isset($var) ?: $var="default";