RalphLauren
Sales Funnel Architect
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If you are facing a "Trying to access array offset on value of type null" warning or error in PHP, this article will help you understand why this error occurs in PHP Projects or Scripts. Here, I will be providing sample snippets that simulate this PHP Warning and its solution to show you how to fix it and prevent it to occur in the future.
What is Trying to access array offset on value of type null
mean?
The Trying to access array offset on value of type null is a PHP warning or error that occurs when getting a value of array elements or items. This is caused by trying to display, print, set into a new variable, etc the PHP variable that has a null value in a manner of accessing an array element.
Here's a simple snippet that simulates this error:
- <?php
- $mySampleArray
=
null
;
- print
(
$mySampleArray
[
0
]
)
;
- ?>
The snippet results in the following image:
As you can see, the $mySampleArray variable is null and not even an array. Given the fact that it is null, we still did try to access an array element using the said variable because the variable is not an array and certainly does not have a key of 0.
The error often occurs when we set an array value in a variable without knowing that it may return a null value.
Solution
Fixing Trying to access array offset on value of type null is not that complicated because we just need to make sure that the array variable that we intended will not return or does not contain a null value.
Here's a sample fix snippet:
- <?php
- $mySampleArray
=
null
;
- if
(
!
is_null
(
$mySampleArray
)
&&
is_array
(
$mySampleArray
)
&&
isset
(
$mySampleArray
[
0
]
)
)
{
- print
(
$mySampleArray
[
0
]
)
;
- }
else
{
- print
(
"The given variable is not an array and contains a null value."
)
;
- }
- ?>
The snippet will not throw a PHP error but still won't access the given array element because the value of the variable is still null. The element will be only properly executed if we have the following:
- <?php
- $mySampleArray
=
[
"PHP"
,
"MySQL"
,
"HTML"
,
"JavaScript"
]
;
- if
(
!
is_null
(
$mySampleArray
)
&&
is_array
(
$mySampleArray
)
&&
isset
(
$mySampleArray
[
0
]
)
)
{
- print
(
$mySampleArray
[
0
]
)
;
- }
else
{
- print
(
"The given variable is not an array and contains a null value."
)
;
- }
- ?>
The solution I have provided is only a way of preventing the Trying to access array offset on value of type null to occur. If you really intended that your given array variable must have an array value, you must track the variable first if you have the correct codes so that the array you intended to access will be accessible.
In some cases, the Trying to access array offset on value of type null PHP warning occurs due to the following:
- Unintentionally overwriting the variable
- Dynamically set the array which may result in a null value
- Lack of proper checking using some conditions that depend on your algorithm or logic
To avoid this PHP warning to occur in your future projects, checking the array element existence is the best practice. To do that you can refer to the sample snippet I have provided as the solution in this article where I use the If statement to create a condition before executing my target code to run.
There you go! I hope this article helps you understand about the Trying to access array offset on value of type null PHP Warning and that you'll find this useful for your current and future PHP Projects.
Explore more on this website for more Tutorials and Free Source Codes.
Happy Coding =)