The @ operator tells PHP to suppress error messages, so that they will not be shown.
For instance, using:
$result = mysql_query("this is an invalid query");
would result in a warning being shown, telling you that the MySQL query is invalid, while
$result = @mysql_query("this is still an invalid query");
would not.
Note, however, that this is very bad programming practice as it does not make error disappear, it just hides them, and it makes debugging a heck of a lot worse since you can't see what's actually wrong with your code.
Instead of using @
, you should disable error_reporting
and display_errors
just display_errors
in php.ini