set error_reporting to E_ALL, and you'll see all undefined vars. However, it doesn't force the use of it.

Derick

this would only catch read usage of undefined variables,
but not assigning values to them

see:

<?php

 $typofree = "hallo";

 ...

 $xtypofree = "ooops";

?>

nothing in PHP will warn you that you have a typo
in the second assignment, so creating a new variable
unintended


... moved to feature requests ...

I realy think this is good idea. I've been looking for some tool to do this kind of checks and found none.

For small scripts there is no need to have variable declaring but there are for longer multi file, multi developer projects. By making the checks an option we can have both modes available.

This is definitely an important issue.  Not being able to declare variables creates a debugging nightmare!

This is an important issue.  E_ALL doesn't catch everything.  It makes PHP harder to program compared to other languages where you can declare variables (Perl, Java, etc.)

I agree this is a very major issue, and it scares people I know away from using PHP. It would be extremely convenient to have warnings on assignment as well - instead of just upon reading a non-existent variable - and instead of creating a variable when a value is first assigned to it, require a separate declaration using a "var" keyword or such. Obviously not as standard, but as an option...

This feature is necessary in PHP.
Try this simple example:

error_reporting(E_ALL | E_NOTICE | E_STRICT); //E_STRICT for PHP5
class Test
{
   var $mispelled_var;

   function Test($test)
   {      
      $this->$mispeled_var = $test;
      
      /*
      ERROR: we think to instantiate $this->mispelled_var, but
      we forgot an 'l' and we are instantiating a new var.
      PHP does not raise any error or warning or notice.
      */      
   }
};

All other languages would raise an error or at least a warning.
I love PHP and I want it to grow, this is a neccesary feature.
It is necessary to add a sort of gobal option that when activated makes PHP sensible to these type of errors.

This would be a great option to add in error_reporting, consider the following 
script.

ini_set("error_reporting", E_ALL|E_STRICT);

class test1
{
    private $m1 = "initial value in t1";
    
    public function setVarsTest()
    {
        $this->m1 = "in t1";
    }
    
    public function showValues()
    {
        echo(")".$this->m1."(<br/>");
    }
}

class test2 extends test1
{
    public function setVarsTest()
    {
        $this->m1 = "in t2";
    }
}

$t1 = new test1();
$t1->setVarsTest();
$t1->showValues();

$t2 = new test2();
$t2->setVarsTest();
$t2->showValues();


the output is:

)in t1(
)initial value in t1(

changing $m1 to protected solves the issue, but tracking down issues like this 
after a refactoring session could be easier if PHP had this feature.

"$t2->setVarsTest();" would generate a notice in the above code.

In modern PHP, you must declare static variables before they are assigned or referenced, which gives you a clear answer to the original question: Yes, use static variables.

The comments here confuse the original question, and send everything awry ...

This simply does not make sense:

<?php

 $typofree = "hallo";

 ...

 $xtypofree = "ooops";

?>

We cannot possibly raise a warning on the second variable assignment, it is perfectly valid code, with no way to tell when the programmer is misspelling or just programming the idea will simply not work, ever.

I think the original question is probably born of a misunderstanding rather than  a genuine desire to change the way PHP works, or did work.

It doesn't make sense for you to have to declare _everything_ in PHP, so it doesn't make sense to have it as an option.

Some conversations are so stupid, they are not worth having :)

I think what was meant by the original question was something along the lines of:
<?php  option=explicit
  declare $typofree;

  $typofree = "hallo";
  ...
  $xtypofree = "ooops";
?>

so as $xtypofree has not been 'declared' as a variable, it would throw a 'variable not declared' notice...

The problem is when you use both the mistyped and correctly typed variables if they have both been initialized.
function blah($correct)//correct variable name should be declared here
{
    $correct = 1;

    $incorrect = 2;//this should throw an error because this is an undeclared variable 


    $new = $incorrect*4;//this should throw an error because it's using an undeclared variable.


    return $new;
}