International PHP Conference Berlin 2025

DivisionByZeroError

(PHP 7, PHP 8)

Introduction

DivisionByZeroError is thrown when an attempt is made to divide a number by zero.

Class synopsis

class DivisionByZeroError extends ArithmeticError {
/* Inherited properties */
protected string $message = "";
private string $string = "";
protected int $code;
protected string $file = "";
protected int $line;
private array $trace = [];
private ?Throwable $previous = null;
/* Inherited methods */
public Error::__construct(string $message = "", int $code = 0, ?Throwable $previous = null)
final public Error::getMessage(): string
final public Error::getCode(): int
final public Error::getFile(): string
final public Error::getLine(): int
final public Error::getTrace(): array
private Error::__clone(): void
}
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User Contributed Notes 3 notes

up
13
8ctopus
4 years ago
Use of arithmetic operator / does not throw an exception in php 7, while it does in php 8.

<?php

try {
echo
intdiv(2, 0);
} catch (
DivisionByZeroError $e) {
echo
"Caught DivisionByZeroError!\n";
}

try {
echo (
2 / 0);
} catch (
DivisionByZeroError $e) {
echo
"Caught DivisionByZeroError!\n";
}
?>

# php 7
$ php test.php
caught division by zero for intdiv()
PHP Warning: Division by zero in test.php on line 10
PHP Stack trace:
PHP 1. {main}() test.php:0

Warning: Division by zero in test.php on line 10

Call Stack:
0.0740 417272 1. {main}() test.php:0

# php 8
$ php test.php

caught division by zero for intdiv()
caught division by zero for /
up
7
salsi at icosaedro dot it
8 years ago
Note that on division by zero 1/0 and module by zero 1%0 an E_WARNING is triggered first (probably for backward compatibility with PHP5), then the DivisionByZeroError exception is thrown next.

The result is, for example, that if you set the maximum level of error detection with error_level(-1) and you also map errors to exception, say ErrorException, then on division by zero only this latter exception is thrown reporting "Division by zero". The result is that a code like this:

<?php
// Set a safe environment:
error_reporting(-1);

// Maps errors to ErrorException.
function my_error_handler($errno, $message)
{ throw new
ErrorException($message); }

try {
echo
1/0;
}
catch(
ErrorException $e){
echo
"got $e";
}
?>

allows to detect such error in the same way under PHP5 and PHP7, although the DivisionByZeroError exception is masked off by ErrorException.
up
-1
Alex
5 years ago
This error is thrown only for integer division - this is when using "intdiv" function or "%" operator. In all cases you will get an E_WARNING when dividing by zero.
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