php - Can't catch symfony FatalErrorException

Question

I have code like this:

try {
    $var = $object->getCollection()->first()->getItem()->getName();
} catch(Exception $e) {
    $var = null;
}

Of course i have communicative variable and method names. This is just demonstration.

So if my collection is empty the Collection::first() will return false. Then the getItem call will throw a SymfonyComponentDebugExceptionFatalErrorException which won't be catched by the code above.

My question is that how can i catch this exception? I have long chains like this with many getters that can return null. So i prefer this way rather than checking every value for null.

question from:https://stackoverflow.com/questions/28406566/cant-catch-symfony-fatalerrorexception

Answer 1

Use Throwable class instead Exception class:

try {
    $var = $object->getCollection()->first()->getItem()->getName();
} catch(Throwable $e) {
    $var = null;
    $msg = $e->getMessage();
}

Since PHP 7.0 exceptions thrown from fatal and recoverable errors are instances of a new and separate exception class: Error. This new Error class implements Throwable interface, which specifies methods nearly identical to those of Exception. Because Throwable is higher in hierarchy you can catch with it both, Error and Exception.

interface Throwable
|- Exception implements Throwable
    |- ...
|- Error implements Throwable
    |- TypeError extends Error
    |- ParseError extends Error
    |- ArithmeticError extends Error
        |- DivisionByZeroError extends ArithmeticError
    |- AssertionError extends Error