Invalid argument supplied for foreach()

It often happens to me to handle data that can be either an array or a null variable and to feed some foreach with these data.

$values = get_values();

foreach ($values as $value){
  ...
}

When you feed a foreach with data that are not an array, you get a warning:

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in […]

Assuming it’s not possible to refactor the get_values() function to always return an array (backward compatibility, not available source code, whatever other reason), I’m wondering which is the cleanest and most efficient way to avoid these warnings:

• Casting $values to array
• Initializing $values to array
• Wrapping the foreach with an if
• Other (please suggest)

Answer

Personally I find this to be the most clean – not sure if it’s the most efficient, mind!

if (is_array($values) || is_object($values))
{
    foreach ($values as $value)
    {
        ...
    }
}

The reason for my preference is it doesn’t allocate an empty array when you’ve got nothing to begin with anyway.