PHP Exception Handling

Exceptions are used to change the normal flow of a script if a specified error occurs.

What is an Exception

With PHP 5 came a new object oriented way of dealing with errors.

Exception handling is used to change the normal flow of the code execution if a specified error (exceptional) condition occurs. This condition is called an exception.

This is what normally happens when an exception is triggered:

The current code state is saved
The code execution will switch to a predefined (custom) exception handler function
Depending on the situation, the handler may then resume the execution from the saved code state, terminate the script execution or continue the script from a different location in the code

We will show different error handling methods:

Basic use of Exceptions
Creating a custom exception handler
Multiple exceptions
Re-throwing an exception
Setting a top level exception handler

Note: Exceptions should only be used with error conditions, and should not be used to jump to another place in the code at a specified point.

Basic Use of Exceptions

When an exception is thrown, the code following it will not be executed, and PHP will try to find the matching "catch" block.

If an exception is not caught, a fatal error will be issued with an "Uncaught Exception" message.

Lets try to throw an exception without catching it:

<?php
//create function with an exception
function checkNum($number) {
  if($number>1) {
    throw new Exception("Value must be 1 or below");
  }
  return true;
}

//trigger exception
checkNum(2);
?>

The code above will get an error like this:

Fatal error: Uncaught exception 'Exception'
with message 'Value must be 1 or below' in C:\webfolder\test.php:6
Stack trace: #0 C:\webfolder\test.php(12):
checkNum(28) #1 {main} thrown in C:\webfolder\test.php on line 6

Try, throw and catch

To avoid the error from the example above, we need to create the proper code to handle an exception.

Proper exception code should include:

try - A function using an exception should be in a "try" block. If the exception does not trigger, the code will continue as normal. However if the exception triggers, an exception is "thrown"
throw - This is how you trigger an exception. Each "throw" must have at least one "catch"
catch - A "catch" block retrieves an exception and creates an object containing the exception information

Lets try to trigger an exception with valid code:

<?php
//create function with an exception
function checkNum($number) {
  if($number>1) {
    throw new Exception("Value must be 1 or below");
  }
  return true;
}

//trigger exception in a "try" block
try {
  checkNum(2);
  //If the exception is thrown, this text will not be shown
  echo 'If you see this, the number is 1 or below';
}

//catch exception
catch(Exception $e) {
  echo 'Message: ' .$e->getMessage();
}
?>

The code above will get an error like this:

Message: Value must be 1 or below

Example explained:

The code above throws an exception and catches it:

The checkNum() function is created. It checks if a number is greater than 1. If it is, an exception is thrown
The checkNum() function is called in a "try" block
The exception within the checkNum() function is thrown
The "catch" block retrieves the exception and creates an object ($e) containing the exception information
The error message from the exception is echoed by calling $e->getMessage() from the exception object

However, one way to get around the "every throw must have a catch" rule is to set a top level exception handler to handle errors that slip through.