PHP Combining variable and expression inside of an if statement

Question

I'm working a large piece of code and for brevity sake find myself setting variables inside of if statements, example, if ( $subscriber = $this->subscriber->addSubscriber($request->all()) ) . Expanded example below.

It works great and probably is good indicator to use ternary statement. However, before I create a problem for myself that will result in late nights of refactoring.
I feel I need to ask if this problematic or bad practice? Should declare before use i.e. traditional approach? Sorry if this is basic question, but cannot find anything on the here or PHP forums.

    public function postSubscriber(Request $request)
    {
        if ( $subscriber = $this->subscriber->addSubscriber($request->all()) ) {
            return response()->json($subscriber, 200);
        }

        return response()->json("Oops! something went wrong with your subscription.", 500);
    }

A ternary would probably make the code less readable; there's nothing wrong with if statements, even for short methods like this — Mark Baker
– Mark Baker, Commented May 27, 2016 at 19:19
Whether or not the more concise code is more readable is very subjective. To me, the main advantage to breaking code into more steps is that it can make debugging a little neater by allowing you to set breakpoints more precisely. Also assignment in an if condition triggers a warning in some IDEs (Netbeans does that iirc), which you can turn off, but then won't warn you if you do it accidentally later. — Don't Panic
– Don't Panic, Commented May 27, 2016 at 19:52

citrusy · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-27 20:29:10Z

2

No, as I see it, it isn't likely it will cause problems that will require refactoring. Re: whether traditional approach is more readable, that part of your question is entirely subjective and is best answered with 'what is most readable to you?'

answered May 27, 2016 at 20:29

citrusy

1618 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

1 Comment

Nolan Over a year ago

thanks , I always hesitant to ask these types of basic questions but all to often bites me in the behind when I don't

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

PHP Combining variable and expression inside of an if statement

1 Answer 1

1 Comment

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

1 Comment

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related