What's quicker and better to determine if an array key exists in PHP?

performance, php

Solution

`isset()` is faster, but it's not the same as `array_key_exists()`.

`array_key_exists()` purely checks if the key exists, even if the value is `NULL`.

Whereas `isset()` will return `false` if the key exists and value is `NULL`.

Problem

Consider these 2 examples... ``` $key = 'jim'; // example 1 if (isset($array[$key])) { // ... } // example 2 if (array_key_exists($key, $array)) { // ... } ``` I'm interested in knowing if either of these are better. I've always used the first, but have seen a lot of people use the second example on this site. So, which is better? Faster? Clearer intent?

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