No, you don't need to initialize $matches. It's passed by reference and thus doesn't need to be initialized. And as I already said: It is good practice to ensure that preg_match actually matched something:
if (preg_match(REGEX, $string, $matches)) { // in here $matches is guaranteed to be defined } If you don't do that you will work with $matches even though there was no match - which is pointless and will probably result in bugs. On Fri, Jul 8, 2011 at 3:18 PM, Rafael Dohms <lis...@rafaeldohms.com.br>wrote: > That is just one use case as i see it its very cluncky to use this in > case you want to extract matches, you need to initilize the $matches > variable beforehad or you get a notice, so a simple extract is now 3 > lines of code. > > Thus, that is the reason why i suggest a new preg_extract function > that would handle the other use cases in a optimized way. > > -- > Rafael Dohms > PHP Evangelist and Community Leader > http://www.rafaeldohms.com.br > http://www.phpsp.org.br >