Can't use method return value in write context

Question

I would think the following piece of code should work, but it doesn\'t (Edited: Now works in PHP 5.5+):

if (!empty($r->getError()))
         


        

Answer 1

Note: This is a very high voted answer with a high visibility, but please note that it promotes bad, unnecessary coding practices! See @Kornel's answer for the correct way.

Note #2: I endorse the suggestions to use @Kornel's answer. When I wrote this answer three years ago, I merely meant to explain the nature of the error, not necessarily endorse the alternative. The code snippet below is not recommended.

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It's a limitation of empty() in PHP versions below 5.5.

Note: empty() only checks variables as anything else will result in a parse error. In other words, the following will not work: empty(trim($name)).

You'd have to change to this

// Not recommended, just illustrates the issue
$err = $r->getError();
if (!empty($err))