The @ sign in PHP

[seoyo]

Hello, I've done some research to find out what significance the @ symbol has in PHP.  I haven't found much beyond code snippets.  An example of how it's used is as follows:

 

$foo = @require('somefile.php');

 

What is the @ doing here?  Also, how else can it be used?

[schilly]

It suppresses error messages if I recall right.

[php_dave]

Schilly is correct it will supress error messages for that command only.

[KrisNz]

Suppressing errors when you require/include will suppress errors for that entire file, i.e if somefile.php has errors, they wont be displayed, regardless of whatever error reporting is set in that file. Use sparingly, if at all.