Codeigniter if URL segment is missing

Question

Having found out that 3rd URL segments can be passed directly to the a function's parameter I did the following.

URL example:

http://www.mysite.com/profile/user/64

Function in profile controller:

function user($user_id) //$user_id is 3rd URL segment
{
   //get data for user with id = $user_id
}

Using $this->uri->segment(3) returns FALSE is no segment exists. With the function parameter I get

Missing argument 1

How can I return FALSE and not execute the function if the 3rd URL segment is missing? I'm looking for a simple solution without if statements, if possible.

Answer 1

You get "Missing argument 1" because the function does not get the argument.

Try

function user(){
    if($this->uri->segment(3)){
        //get data for user with id = $this->uri->segment(3)
    }
}

Answer 2

What about default arguments:

function user($user_id = FALSE) //$user_id is 3rd URL segment
{
   //get data for user with id = $user_id
}