What is the purpose of using the "@" symbol in PHP file functions, and what potential pitfalls does it present?

Using the "@" symbol in PHP file functions suppresses any error messages that may occur during the execution of the function. While this can be useful for hiding errors in production environments, it can also make debugging more difficult as errors are not displayed. It is generally recommended to avoid using "@" symbols and instead handle errors using proper error handling techniques. 

// Example of using proper error handling instead of "@" symbol
$file = 'example.txt';

$handle = fopen($file, 'r');
if ($handle === false) {
    echo 'Error opening file';
    // Handle error appropriately, such as logging or displaying a message
} else {
    // File operations
    fclose($handle);
}

Keywords

PHP error suppression error handling exception file functions

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