php - Setting default values (conditional assignment)

Question

In Ruby you can easily set a default value for a variable

x ||= "default"

The above statement will set the value of x to "default" if x is nil or false

Is there a similar shortcut in PHP or do I have to use the longer form:

$x = (isset($x))? $x : "default";

Are there any easier ways to handle this in PHP?

Answer 1

As of PHP 5.3 you can use the ternary operator while omitting the middle argument:

$x = $x ?: 'default';