set_error_handler

(PHP 4 >= 4.0.1, PHP 5, PHP 7)

Sets a user-defined error handler function

mixed set_error_handler ( callable $error_handler [, int $error_types = E_ALL | E_STRICT ] )

Sets a user function (error_handler) to handle errors in a script.

This function can be used for defining your own way of handling errors during runtime, for example in applications in which you need to do cleanup of data/files when a critical error happens, or when you need to trigger an error under certain conditions (using trigger_error()).

It is important to remember that the standard PHP error handler is completely bypassed for the error types specified by error_types unless the callback function returns FALSE. error_reporting() settings will have no effect and your error handler will be called regardless - however you are still able to read the current value of error_reporting and act appropriately. Of particular note is that this value will be 0 if the statement that caused the error was prepended by the @ error-control operator.

Also note that it is your responsibility to die() if necessary. If the error-handler function returns, script execution will continue with the next statement after the one that caused an error.

The following error types cannot be handled with a user defined function: E_ERROR, E_PARSE, E_CORE_ERROR, E_CORE_WARNING, E_COMPILE_ERROR, E_COMPILE_WARNING, and most of E_STRICT raised in the file where set_error_handler() is called.

If errors occur before the script is executed (e.g. on file uploads) the custom error handler cannot be called since it is not registered at that time.

Parameters:

error_handler

A callback with the following signature. NULL may be passed instead, to reset this handler to its default state. Instead of a function name, an array containing an object reference and a method name can also be supplied.

bool handler ( int $errno , string $errstr [, string $errfile [, int $errline [, array $errcontext ]]] )

error_types

Can be used to mask the triggering of the error_handler function just like the error_reporting ini setting controls which errors are shown. Without this mask set the error_handler will be called for every error regardless to the setting of the error_reporting setting.

Returns:

Returns a string containing the previously defined error handler (if any). If the built-in error handler is used NULL is returned. NULL is also returned in case of an error such as an invalid callback. If the previous error handler was a class method, this function will return an indexed array with the class and the method name.

Changelog:

5.5.0

error_handler NULL

5.2.0

The error handler must return FALSE to populate $php_errormsg.

Examples:

Error handling with set_error_handler() and trigger_error()

The example below shows the handling of internal exceptions by triggering errors and handling them with a user defined function:

<?php
// error handler function
function myErrorHandler($errno, $errstr, $errfile, $errline)
{
    if (!(error_reporting() & $errno)) {
        // This error code is not included in error_reporting
        return;
    }
 
    switch ($errno) {
    case E_USER_ERROR:
        echo "<b>My ERROR</b> [$errno] $errstr<br />\n";
        echo "  Fatal error on line $errline in file $errfile";
        echo ", PHP " . PHP_VERSION . " (" . PHP_OS . ")<br />\n";
        echo "Aborting...<br />\n";
        exit(1);
        break;
 
    case E_USER_WARNING:
        echo "<b>My WARNING</b> [$errno] $errstr<br />\n";
        break;
 
    case E_USER_NOTICE:
        echo "<b>My NOTICE</b> [$errno] $errstr<br />\n";
        break;
 
    default:
        echo "Unknown error type: [$errno] $errstr<br />\n";
        break;
    }
 
    /* Don't execute PHP internal error handler */
    return true;
}
 
// function to test the error handling
function scale_by_log($vect, $scale)
{
    if (!is_numeric($scale) || $scale <= 0) {
        trigger_error("log(x) for x <= 0 is undefined, you used: scale = $scale", E_USER_ERROR);
    }
 
    if (!is_array($vect)) {
        trigger_error("Incorrect input vector, array of values expected", E_USER_WARNING);
        return null;
    }
 
    $temp = array();
    foreach($vect as $pos => $value) {
        if (!is_numeric($value)) {
            trigger_error("Value at position $pos is not a number, using 0 (zero)", E_USER_NOTICE);
            $value = 0;
        }
        $temp[$pos] = log($scale) * $value;
    }
 
    return $temp;
}
 
// set to the user defined error handler
$old_error_handler = set_error_handler("myErrorHandler");
 
// trigger some errors, first define a mixed array with a non-numeric item
echo "vector a\n";
$a = array(2, 3, "foo", 5.5, 43.3, 21.11);
print_r($a);
 
// now generate second array
echo "----\nvector b - a notice (b = log(PI) * a)\n";
/* Value at position $pos is not a number, using 0 (zero) */
$b = scale_by_log($a, M_PI);
print_r($b);
 
// this is trouble, we pass a string instead of an array
echo "----\nvector c - a warning\n";
/* Incorrect input vector, array of values expected */
$c = scale_by_log("not array", 2.3);
var_dump($c); // NULL
 
// this is a critical error, log of zero or negative number is undefined
echo "----\nvector d - fatal error\n";
/* log(x) for x <= 0 is undefined, you used: scale = $scale" */
$d = scale_by_log($a, -2.5);
var_dump($d); // Never reached
?>

The above example will output something similar to:

vector a
Array
(
    [0] => 2
    [1] => 3
    [2] => foo
    [3] => 5.5
    [4] => 43.3
    [5] => 21.11
)
----
vector b - a notice (b = log(PI) * a)
<b>My NOTICE</b> [1024] Value at position 2 is not a number, using 0 (zero)<br />
Array
(
    [0] => 2.2894597716988
    [1] => 3.4341896575482
    [2] => 0
    [3] => 6.2960143721717
    [4] => 49.566804057279
    [5] => 24.165247890281
)
----
vector c - a warning
<b>My WARNING</b> [512] Incorrect input vector, array of values expected<br />
NULL
----
vector d - fatal error
<b>My ERROR</b> [256] log(x) for x <= 0 is undefined, you used: scale = -2.5<br />
  Fatal error on line 35 in file trigger_error.php, PHP 5.2.1 (FreeBSD)<br />
Aborting...<br />