PHP shorthand for isset()? [duplicate]

Question

Is there a shorthand way to assign a variable to something if it doesn't exist in PHP?

if(!isset($var) {   $var = ""; } 

I'd like to do something like

$var = $var | ""; 

Answer 1

Update for PHP 7 (thanks shock_gone_wild)

PHP 7 introduces the null coalescing operator which simplifies the below statements to:

$var = $var ?? "default"; 

Before PHP 7

No, there is no special operator or special syntax for this. However, you could use the ternary operator:

$var = isset($var) ? $var : "default"; 

Or like this:

isset($var) ?: $var = 'default';