PHP unlink() handling the exception

Question

Well, I have been wondering if I can handle the unlink() function properly. I dont want the unlink() function to throw some nasty error if it is unable to unlink the file (may be due to the File not found).

I tried something like

try { 
    unlink("secret/secret.txt"); 
} catch(Exception $e) { 
    print "whoops!"; 
    //or even leaving it empty so nothing is displayed
} 

But it is not working. I am no expert in PHP. I searched and found this exception handling code somewhere in the web. But as I can remember my school days, the same was used for Java. SO it should have worked. I dont know whats wrong with the code.

Or can I simply use a if..else statement like

if(unlink($file)){
  //leaving here empty must ensure that nothing is displayed
}else{
  //leaving here empty must ensure that nothing is displayed
}

But this code isnt working either. Where am I doing the mistake? What are the other ways to handle it properly?

Can the errors be hidden by manipulating with the error reporting (PHP) (Production and Development environment) ??

Answer 1

If you want to only surpress the error, you can do this:

@unlink('your_file_name');

Generally, in php, @ will surpress any error.

The better way is minimize the error probability. You've say that one of error possibility is caused by non-exist file. If I were you, I'll do this:

if(file_exists('your_file_name')){
    unlink('your_file_name');
}else{
    echo 'file not found';
}

Good luck :)