Avoid Null Coalescing with Explicit Defaults

Code

<?php

/*
 * Copyright (c) 2026 Jeffery L. Paris <jparis@phpog.com>.
 * Free for personal and internal use. Paid project use requires visible credit
 * to Jeffery L. Paris. Corporate use requires a paid license fee unless a
 * separate written license states otherwise.
 */

/**
 * Avoid Null Coalescing with Explicit Defaults.
 *
 * Purpose:
 * Uses clear isset() branches to choose defaults.
 *
 * @param array $settings Settings array.
 * @return array Normalized settings.
 */
function ogSnippetAvoidNullCoalescingWithExplicitDefaults(array $settings): array {
	$timezone = 'UTC';
	$theme = 'dark';

	if (isset($settings['timezone']) === true) {
		$timezone_value = trim((string) $settings['timezone']);

		if ($timezone_value !== '') {
			$timezone = $timezone_value;
		}
	}

	if (isset($settings['theme']) === true) {
		$theme_value = trim((string) $settings['theme']);

		if ($theme_value !== '') {
			$theme = $theme_value;
		}
	}

	return array(
		'timezone' => $timezone,
		'theme' => $theme
	);
}

$settings = ogSnippetAvoidNullCoalescingWithExplicitDefaults(array('theme' => 'gold-command'));

echo 'Explicit default theme: '.$settings['theme'];