In PHP the error suppression operator is the @ sign. Whenever you put this sign in front of an expression, it doesn’t show up any errors that the expression generates. This is a handy feature if you don’t want errors showing up while the script is running. The problem with this though is that a lot of people are using it incorrectly. It might not always be a problem, but because the suppression operator is rather slow when it comes to performance, it can slow down your script.

So, if performance is an issue, have a look at these examples on how to go about not using the suppression operator but still getting the same affect.

if (isset($albus)) $albert = $albus;
else $albert = NULL;

is the same as

$albert = @$albus;

Another method would be to use the variable as a reference varilable:

$albert =& $albus;