Retrieve booleans settings from PHP's configuration

The wrong but obvious way

if (ini_get('safe_mode') == false) {
     echo "Safe mode disabled
";
}

Why is this wrong?

• If the setting is defined in php.ini, an empty string is returned when disabled, "1" is if enabled, simple, right?
• If the setting is defined somewhere else, let's say in httpd.conf, the exact string is returned, WTF?!

A better solution

function ini_get_boolean($setting)
{
       $my_boolean = ini_get($setting);

       if ( (int) $my_boolean > 0 )
             $my_boolean = true;
       else
       {
             $my_lowered_boolean = strtolower($my_boolean);

             if ($my_lowered_boolean === "true" || $my_lowered_boolean === "on" || $my_lowered_boolean === "yes")
                    $my_boolean = true;
             else
               $my_boolean = false;
       }

       return $my_boolean;
}

if (ini_get_boolean('safe_mode') === false) {
     echo "Safe mode disabled
";
}

See also

• PHP's documentation of ini_get
• PHP bug report