Enable/Disable Error Reporting in PHP

Here we will cover how to display and log PHP errors to assist in debugging PHP applications or websites that use PHP to function, such as WordPress.

These steps can be used when dealing with an HTTP 500 error or a blank page on the site. By following the steps below, we can generate an actual error message which will help with the troubleshooting process.

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Enabling Error Reporting and Error Logging for the Website

1. Log into cPanel
2. Look for the MultiPHP INI Editor in the Software section
   
3. If the MultiPHP INI Editor is available, click on it
   
   1. Choose the domain you want to make the changes to
      
   2. Find the display_errors line and toggle the slider on the right to enable or disable it
      
   3. Click Apply on the bottom
      
4. If the MultiPHP INI Editor is not available, the steps can be done through File Manager
   
   1. Open File Manager in the Files section
      
   2. Navigate to the website's document root
   3. Look for a php.ini or .user.ini file in the document root of the domain
      TIP: If one of these files exists in a different folder, you can copy it into the main document root folder. If you can't find any of these files, a new php.ini file can be created.
   4. Edit the file
   5. Insert the following code into the file to enable error displaying and error logging

      display_errors = On
      error_log = FILEPATH HERE/error_log
      log_errors = On
      error_reporting = E_ALL

      REPLACE: FILEPATH HERE with the website's document root.
      
      1. display_errors = On will enable the setting to display errors on the front page of the website
      2. error_log = FILEPATH HERE/error_log will direct the website to the file to log PHP errors to
      3. log_errors = On will enable PHP error logging
      4. error_reporting = E_ALL will ensure that all PHP errors are included
   6. Click Save Changes
      
      
   7. To be sure that these changes take effect for not only the current directory, but all subdirectories, you'll want to make your php.ini file recursive
      
   8. After setting the site to display errors, reload the page to look for any errors being displayed
      1. If no errors appear, download or view the error_log file to see if any errors have been logged
         
         1. If no error_log file exists, it's likely that there are no PHP errors on the site

Enable display_errors within PHP

1. You can also enable display_errors by editing PHP code directly
   1. Insert the following code to the top of a relevant PHP file

      ini_set('display_errors', 1);
      ini_set('display_startup_errors', 1);
      error_reporting(E_ALL);