The assert function is a very convenient way to validate data in PHP, but is this function reliable ? The answer is no. The thing with assert function is that it can be disabled, so it’s usually disabled in production environments.

How does it work?

Assert function allows you to evaluate an expression, if the condition is true then the execution will continue normally, but if the condition is false then an AssertionError will be thrown.

$name = false;
assert(is_string($name)); // will throw AssertError

If you want to make this example work you must have the following php.ini configuration:

zend.assertions = 1
assert.active = 1

For more details please refer to assert documentation.

Assert alternatives

Since I cannot use assert function in production, I had to found a replacement. I present you three alternatives I found.

Alternative 1: use if statement

You can mimic assert behaviour using a simple if statement, and negating the condition.

$name = false;
if (!is_string($name)){
    throw new \Exception('Name must be string')
}

On one hand this solution is very intuitive, on the other hand it’s also verbose, now we need three lines of code instead of only one.

Alternative 2: write your own function

To be closer to the original assert function I wrote my own function, of course it can be used in any environment.

use function Jawira\TheLostFunctions\throw_unless;

$name = false;
throw_unless(is_string($name), new \Exception('Name must be string'));

The downside of this solution if that you have to install an external library, in this case jawira/the-lost-functions .

Alternative 3: use ternary operator

Since PHP 8.1, throw is an expression, I took advantage of this feature to write a one-liner assert equivalent:

$name = false;
is_string($name) ?: throw new \Exception('Name must be string');

This is the best alternative. It takes a single line of code, and it only uses vanilla PHP - no external library is involved - therefore this is the solution I use every day in my projects.

Conclusion

Assert function is only meant to be used in dev environment, and it will be very likely disabled in production. As a replacement you can use any of the alternatives I proposed, being the last one my preferred.