Create function that checks isset and returns null if not

I have the following issue. I want to access a property of an object which may or not be there.

Consider this:

$items[] = [
  'color' => $row->color
];

But color may or not be set on $row when it’s not PHP prints a notice that it is something like this:

Warning: PHP Notice: Undefined property: stdClass::$color

So I want to do this instead:

$items[] = [
  'color' => isset($row->color) ? $row->color : null,
];

However that’s a lot of code to write each time I want to do this. Perhaps I’ll have dozens of similar properties.

So I would like to create a function like:

function checkEmpty($testValue){
    if(!isset($atestValue)) {
        return $testValue;
    } else {
        return null;
    }
}

and use it

$items[] = [
  'color' => checkEmpty($row->color),
];

But this produces the same error as before. I think because I am still trying to access $row->color when I invoke checkEmpty. Is there a way I can create a reusable function to achieve this isset check and return null if not?

>Solution :

You can use the Null coalescing operator

$items[] = [
  'color' => $row->color ?? null
];