How can the use of "@" in front of $_POST variables affect error handling and debugging in PHP?

Using "@" in front of $_POST variables suppresses any error messages that may occur if the variable is not set or empty. While this may prevent error messages from being displayed to the user, it can make debugging more difficult as issues with missing or empty variables may go unnoticed. To properly handle errors and debug PHP code, it is recommended to check if the $_POST variable is set and not empty before using it in your code.

if(isset($_POST['variable']) && !empty($_POST['variable'])) {
    $variable = $_POST['variable'];
    // continue with processing the variable
} else {
    // handle the case where the variable is not set or empty
    echo "Error: variable is not set or empty";
}