initialize variables

[eluser]Unknown[/eluser]
A perfect example is with a URL variable. Sometimes it may be there, sometimes not so instead of having an if block to test if it exists, you would use this type of function.

getVar($_GET['myvar'], 'default value');

It's a simple function that tests whether the variable exists and assigns it a default value if it doesn't so that you don't get warnings that "this variable does not exists".