Turn off display errors using file "php.ini"

Question

I am trying to turn off all errors on my website. I have followed different tutorials on how to do this, but I keep getting read and open error messages. Is there something I am missing?

I have tried the following in my php.ini file:

;Error display
display_startup_errors = Off
display_errors = Off
html_errors = Off
docref_root = 0
docref_ext = 0

For some reason when I do a fileopen() call for a file which does not exist, I still get the error displayed. This is not safe for a live website, for obvious reasons.

Try to explicitly set it via ini_set() function in your script. However it's a bad practice and you should catch the errors and do something with them instead of hiding via display_Errors — Ivan Yonkov
– Ivan Yonkov, Commented Apr 11, 2013 at 12:54
I suggest running grep display_errors /path/to/php.ini to see if your line is getting overrided somewhere down the file. This is what was happening to me. — rgajrawala
– rgajrawala, Commented Aug 21, 2015 at 18:02
@rgajrawala your comment was the life saver for me, thank you — Lakshminarayanan Guptha
– Lakshminarayanan Guptha, Commented Aug 2, 2021 at 2:56

Peter Mortensen · Accepted Answer · 2020-04-22 03:21:51Z

35

I always use something like this in a configuration file:

// Toggle this to change the setting
define('DEBUG', true);

// You want all errors to be triggered
error_reporting(E_ALL);

if(DEBUG == true)
{
    // You're developing, so you want all errors to be shown
    display_errors(true);

    // Logging is usually overkill during development
    log_errors(false);
}
else
{
    // You don't want to display errors on a production environment
    display_errors(false);

    // You definitely want to log any occurring
    log_errors(true);
}

This allows easy toggling between debug settings. You can improve this further by checking on which server the code is running (development, test, acceptance, and production) and change your settings accordingly.

Note that no errors will be logged if error_reporting is set to 0, as cleverly remarked by Korri.

edited Apr 22, 2020 at 3:21

Peter Mortensen

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answered Apr 11, 2013 at 12:59

Sherlock

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5 Comments

Korri Over a year ago

error_reporting(0); does have an effect on logging be carefull !

Sherlock Over a year ago

@Korri is right. Refer to this answer for detailed information: stackoverflow.com/questions/1911920/…

Dominic P Over a year ago

Am I missing something or is display_errors some kind of custom function? I don't see it in the manual.

Sherlock Over a year ago

It's a runtime configuration function: php.net/manual/en/…

Jos Luijten Nov 14 at 13:28

display_errors is not a function

Peter Mortensen · Accepted Answer · 2020-04-22 03:26:27Z

33

You should consider not displaying your error messages instead!

Set ini_set('display_errors', 'Off'); in your PHP code (or directly into your ini file if possible), and leave error_reporting on E_ALL or whatever kind of messages you would like to find in your logs.

This way you can handle errors later, while your users still don't see them.

Full example:

define('DEBUG', true);
error_reporting(E_ALL);

if (DEBUG)
{
    ini_set('display_errors', 'On');
}
else
{
    ini_set('display_errors', 'Off');
}

Or simply (same effect):

define('DEBUG', true);

error_reporting(E_ALL);
ini_set('display_errors', DEBUG ? 'On' : 'Off');

edited Apr 22, 2020 at 3:26

Peter Mortensen

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answered Feb 11, 2014 at 10:52

Levite

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2 Comments

MrWhite Over a year ago

Bit of an aside but I think it's preferable to set boolean values to '1'/'0', rather than 'On'/'Off'. For the simple reason that when you read the value back with init_get() you get the literal string that was set. 'Off' is a non-empty string that evaluates to True.

Levite Over a year ago

It would probably make it easier, since one would be able to just write if(ini_get('display_errors')) (which right now would be true either way). But I actually think the check should never be done like this either way! Anyone maintaining the code could still set it to Off or No (or even Foobar (anything but 1, Yes and On works as negative value)). A safe check could be for example: $val = strtolower(ini_get('display_errors')); if ($val == '1' || $val == 'on' || $val == 'yes') ... Still you have a very valid point, imho!

Peter Mortensen · Accepted Answer · 2020-04-22 03:25:11Z

13

In php.ini, comment out:

error_reporting = E_ALL & ~E_NOTICE
error_reporting = E_ALL & ~E_NOTICE | E_STRICT
error_reporting = E_COMPILE_ERROR|E_RECOVERABLE_ERROR|E_ER… _ERROR
error_reporting = E_ALL & ~E_NOTICE

By placing a ; ahead of it (i.e., like ;error_reporting = E_ALL & ~E_NOTICE)

For disabling in a single file, place error_reporting(0); after opening a php tag.

edited Apr 22, 2020 at 3:25

Peter Mortensen

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answered Apr 11, 2013 at 13:01

Vishnu R

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1 Comment

Jms Bnd Over a year ago

Will this affect error logging? as i want errors to be logged but not displayed

Urs · Accepted Answer · 2020-07-01 14:01:22Z

11

In file php.ini you should try this for all errors:

error_reporting = off

edited Jul 1, 2020 at 14:01

Urs

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answered Apr 1, 2014 at 15:45

Shahzeb chohan

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1 Comment

DarckBlezzer Over a year ago

How to find php.ini, in console write php -ini | less and find the path for php.ini, or create a file.php and put inside <?php phpinfo(); ?>

mario · Accepted Answer · 2014-07-30 01:16:00Z

5

Let me quickly summarize this for reference:

error_reporting() adapts the currently active setting for the default error handler.
Editing the error reporting ini options also changes the defaults.
- Here it's imperative to edit the correct php.ini version - it's typically /etc/php5/fpm/php.ini on modern servers, /etc/php5/mod_php/php.ini alternatively; while the CLI version has a distinct one.
- Alternatively you can use depending on SAPI:
  - mod_php: .htaccess with php_flag options
  - FastCGI: commonly a local php.ini
  - And with PHP above 5.3 also a .user.ini
- Restarting the webserver as usual.

If your code is unwieldy and somehow resets these options elsewhere at runtime, then an alternative and quick way is to define a custom error handler that just slurps all notices/warnings/errors up:

set_error_handler(function(){});

Again, this is not advisable, just an alternative.

answered Jul 30, 2014 at 1:16

mario

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3 Comments

Levite Over a year ago

Nice summary, and also nice set_error_handler hack ^^

Peter Mortensen Over a year ago

It may also be e.g. /etc/opt/remi/php73/php.ini (for PHP 7.3) on some hosting (Red Hat Linux based?)

Sandra Over a year ago

to find what .ini files your php loads, try php -i | grep ini on a command line (this shows ini files loaded for php-cli, so you may also need to check php-fpm and/or apache/webserver too, as directives can be in many places)

score 4 · Accepted Answer · 2020-04-22 12:44:44Z

4

In file php.ini you should try this for all errors:

display_errors = On

Location file is:

Ubuntu 16.04:/etc/php/7.0/apache2
CentOS 7:/etc/php.ini

edited Apr 22, 2020 at 12:44

answered Mar 10, 2015 at 4:26

user4272288

1 Comment

Peter Mortensen Over a year ago

Where is this file located?

Peter Mortensen · Accepted Answer · 2020-04-22 03:23:16Z

3

You can also use PHP's error_reporting();

// Disable it all for current call
error_reporting(0);

If you want to ignore errors from one function only, you can prepend a @ symbol.

@any_function(); // Errors are ignored

edited Apr 22, 2020 at 3:23

Peter Mortensen

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answered Apr 11, 2013 at 12:54

Tim S.

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1 Comment

Jms Bnd Over a year ago

Is this for php.ini or htaccess?

Peter Mortensen · Accepted Answer · 2020-04-22 03:23:46Z

2

Turn if off:

You can use error_reporting(); or put an @ in front of your fileopen().

edited Apr 22, 2020 at 3:23

Peter Mortensen

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answered Apr 11, 2013 at 13:00

AlexxanderX

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Comments

Peter Mortensen · Accepted Answer · 2020-04-22 03:32:49Z

1

I usually use PHP's built in error handlers that can handle every possible error outside of syntax and still render a nice 'Down for maintenance' page otherwise:

Format PHP error on production server

edited Apr 22, 2020 at 3:32

Peter Mortensen

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answered Mar 10, 2015 at 4:33

Vladimir Ramik

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Comments

UWU_SANDUN · Accepted Answer · 2016-01-05 09:26:52Z

0

Open your php.ini file (If you are using Linux - sudo vim /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini)

Add this lines into that file

   error_reporting = E_ALL & ~E_WARNING

(If you need to disabled any other errors -> error_reporting = E_ALL & ~E_DEPRECATED & ~E_STRICT & ~E_NOTICE & ~E_WARNING)

    display_errors = On

And finally you need to restart your APACHE server.

answered Jan 5, 2016 at 9:26

UWU_SANDUN

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Comments

Peter Mortensen · Accepted Answer · 2020-04-22 03:33:55Z

0

It is not enough in case of PHP fpm. It was one more configuration file which can enable display_error. You should find www.conf. In my case it is in directory /etc/php/7.1/fpm/pool.d/

You should find php_flag[display_errors] = on and disable it, php_flag[display_errors] = off. This should solve the issue.

edited Apr 22, 2020 at 3:33

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jan 25, 2019 at 16:55

Vazgen Manukyan

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Comments

Dexter · Accepted Answer · 2020-07-30 23:50:25Z

It's been quite some time and iam sure OP's answer is cleared. If any new user still looking for answer and scrolled this far, then here it is.

Check your updated information in php.ini file

Using Windows explorer:

C/xampp/php/php.ini

Using XAMPP Control Panel

Click the Config button for 'Apache' (Stop | Admin | Config | Logs)
Select PHP (php.ini)

Can i create my own phpinfo()? Yes you can

Create a phpinfo.php in your root directly or anywhere you want
Place this <?php phpinfo(); ?>
Save the file.
Open the file and you should see all the details.

How to set `display_errors` to `Off` in my own file without using php.ini

You can do this using ini_set() function. Read more about ini_set() here (https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.ini-set.php)

Go to your header.php or index.php
add this code ini_set('display_errors', FALSE);

To check the output without accessing php.ini file

$displayErrors = (ini_get('display_errors') == 1) ? 'On' : 'Off';
$PHPCore = array(
    'Display error' => $displayErrors
    // add other details for more output
);
foreach ($PHPCore as $key => $value) {
    echo "$key: $value";
}

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Turn off display errors using file "php.ini"

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Full example:

Or simply (same effect):

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Check your updated information in php.ini file

Using Windows explorer:

Using XAMPP Control Panel

Can i create my own phpinfo()? Yes you can

How to set `display_errors` to `Off` in my own file without using php.ini

To check the output without accessing php.ini file

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Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

12 Answers 12

5 Comments

Full example:

Or simply (same effect):

2 Comments

1 Comment

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3 Comments

1 Comment

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Check your updated information in php.ini file

Using Windows explorer:

Using XAMPP Control Panel

Can i create my own phpinfo()? Yes you can

How to set display_errors to Off in my own file without using php.ini

To check the output without accessing php.ini file

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How to set `display_errors` to `Off` in my own file without using php.ini