Logical OR Operations: || vs. OR - Which Operator Should You Use?

Logical Operators: The Syntax Debate of || vs. OR

It is a common dilemma in programming when it comes to choosing between || (logical OR) and or (bitwise OR) operators. While both operators perform logical disjunction operations, there has been speculation about which one is more preferable.

The key distinction between these operators lies in their precedence, which determines the order in which they are evaluated. In PHP and other programming languages, || has a higher precedence than or. This means that || will be evaluated before or when encountered in an expression, leading to potential unintended outcomes.

Most commonly, developers recommend using ||, as its precedence aligns with how logical OR operators are typically expected to behave. For instance, consider the following expression:

$result = false || true;

If || were used, the expression would correctly evaluate to true, as at least one operand is true. However, if or were used instead, the expression would evaluate to false because or has lower precedence. The code would essentially behave as:

$result = (false or true);
$result = (false);
$result = false;

Therefore, to ensure consistent and predictable behavior, it is generally advised to use || for logical OR operations, as it has the appropriate precedence and aligns with common expectations.

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