I know it's an old topic but still. I've just met the problem in the code I am debugging at work and maybe somebody may have similar issue...
Let's say the code looks like this:
$positions = $this->positions() || [];
You would expect (as you are used to from e.g. javascript) that when $this->positions() returns false or null, $positions is empty array. But it isn't. The value is TRUE or FALSE depends on what $this->positions() returns.
If you need to get value of $this->positions() or empty array, you have to use:
$positions = $this->positions() or [];
EDIT:
The above example doesn't work as intended but the truth is that ||
and or
is not the same... Try this:
<?php
function returnEmpty()
{
//return "string";
//return [1];
return null;
}
$first = returnEmpty() || [];
$second = returnEmpty() or [];
$third = returnEmpty() ?: [];
var_dump($first);
var_dump($second);
var_dump($third);
echo "\n";
This is the result:
bool(false)
NULL
array(0) {
}
So, actually the third option ?:
is the correct solution when you want to set returned value or empty array.
$positions = $this->positions() ?: [];
Tested with PHP 7.2.1