[php] PHP not displaying errors even though display_errors = On

I have a Ubuntu server running Apache2 with PHP 5. In the php.ini I set display_errors = On and error_reporting = E_ALL | E_STRICT, but PHP is still not displaying error messages. I'm also using Apache virtual hosts.

Also, what is the most strict error reporting PHP5.3 has to offer? I want my code to as up-to-date and future-proof as possible.

This question is related to php apache error-reporting

The answer is


When you update the configuration in the php.ini file, you might have to restart apache. Try running apachectl restart or apache2ctl restart, or something like that.

Also, in you ini file, make sure you have display_errors = on, but only in a development environment, never in a production machine.

Also, the strictest error reporting is exactly what you have cited, E_ALL | E_STRICT. You can find more information on error levels at the php docs.


Make sure the php.ini that you're modifying is on the /etc/php5/apache2 folder, or else it won't have any efect...


Just want to add another pitfall here in case someone finds this question with a problem similar to mine.

When you are using Chrome (Or Chromium) and PHP triggers an error in PHP code which is located inside of a HTML attribute then Chrome removes the whole HTML element so you can't see the PHP error in your browser.

Here is an example:

<p>
  <a href="<?=missingFunc()?>">test</a>
</p>

When calling this code in Chrome you only get a HTML document with the starting <p> tag. The rest is missing. No error message and no other HTML code after this <p>. This is not a PHP issue. When you open this page in Firefox then you can see the error message (When viewing the HTML code). So this is a Chrome issue.

Don't know if there is a workaround somewhere. When this happens to you then you have to test the page in Firefox or check the Apache error log.


When running PHP on windows with ISS there are some configuration settings in ISS that need to be set to prevent generic default pages from being shown.

1) Double click on FastCGISettings, click on PHP then Edit. Set StandardErrorMode to ReturnStdErrLn500.

StandardErrorMode

2) Go the the site, double click on the Error Pages, click on the 500 status, click Edit Feature Settings, Change Error Responses to Detailed Errors, click ok

Change Error Responses to Detailed Errors


I have encountered also the problem. Finally I found the solution. I am using UBUNTU 16.04 LTS.

1) Open the /ect/php/7.0/apache2/php.ini file (under the /etc/php one might have different version of PHP but apache2/php.ini will be under the version file), find ERROR HANDLING AND LOGGING section and set the following value {display_error = On, error_reporting = E_ALL}.

NOTE - Under the QUICK REFERENCE section also one can find these values directives but don't change there just change in Section I told.

2) Restart Apache server sudo systemctl restart apache2


For me I solved it by deleting the file of php_errors.txt in the relative folder. Then the file is created automatically again when the code runs next time, and with the errors printed this time.


I had the same problem but I used ini_set('display_errors', '1'); inside the faulty script itself so it never fires on fatal / syntax errors. Finally I solved it by adding this to my .htaccess:

php_value auto_prepend_file /usr/www/{YOUR_PATH}/display_errors.php

display_errors.php:

<?php
ini_set('display_errors', 1);
error_reporting(-1);
?>

By that I was not forced to change the php.ini, use it for specific subfolders and could easily disable it again.


I know this thread is old but I just solved a similar problem with my Ubuntu server and thought I would add a note here to help others as this thread was first page in Google for the topic of PHP not displaying errors.

I tried several configuration settings for the error_reporting value in php.ini. From E_ALL | E_STRICT to E_ALL & E_NOTICE and none worked. I was not getting any syntax errors displayed in the browser (which is rather annoying on a development server). After changing the error_reporting setting to "E_ALL" it all started working. Not sure if it is an Ubuntu Oneric specific issue but after restarting Apache errors started showing in the HTML pages the server was serving. Seems the extra options confusing things and all error reporting stops. HTH somone else.


I just experienced this same problem and it turned out that my problem was not in the php.ini files, but simply, that I was starting the apache server as a regular user. As soon as i did a "sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart", my errors were shown.


I had the same problem on my virtual server with Parallels Plesk Panel 10.4.4. The solution was (thanks to Zappa for the idea) setting error_reporting value to 32767 instead of E_ALL. In Plesk: Home > Subscriptions > (Select domain) > Customize > PHP Settings > error_reporting - Enter custom value - 32767


Although this is old post... i had similar situation that gave me headache. Finally, i figured that i was including sub pages in index.php with "@include ..." "@" hides all errors even if display_errors is ON


Check the error_reporting flag, must be E_ALL, but in some release of Plesk there are quotes ("E_ALL") instead of (E_ALL)

I solved this issue deleting the quotes (") in php.ini

from this:

error_reporting = "E_ALL"

to this:

error_reporting = E_ALL

I had the same problem with Apache and PHP 5.5. In php.ini, I had the following lines:

error_reporting E_ALL & ~E_NOTICE & ~E_DEPRECATED & ~E_STRICT
display_errors Off

instead of the following:

error_reporting=E_ALL & ~E_NOTICE & ~E_DEPRECATED & ~E_STRICT
display_errors=Off

(the =sign was missing)


I had the same issue and finally solved it. My mistake was that I tried to change /etc/php5/cli/php.ini, but then I found another php.ini here: /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini, changed display_errors = On, restarted the web-server and it worked!

May be it would be helpful for someone absent-minded like me.


Though this thread is old but still, I feel I should post a good answer from this stackoverflow answer.

ini_set('display_errors', 1);
ini_set('display_startup_errors', 1);
error_reporting(E_ALL);

This sure saved me after hours of trying to get things to work. I hope this helps someone.


I also face the same issue, I have the following settings in my php.inni file

display_errors = On
error_reporting=E_ALL & ~E_DEPRECATED & ~E_STRICT

But still, PHP errors are not displaying on the webpage. I just restart my apache server and this problem was fixed.


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