It’s important to recognize that a syntax error or parse error happens during the compile or parsing step, which means that PHP will bail before it’s even had a chance to execute any of your code. So if you are modifying PHP’s display_errors configuration during runtime, (this includes anything from using ini_set in your code to using .htaccess, which is a runtime configuration file) then only the default loaded configuration settings are in play.

To avoid a WSOD you want to make sure that your loaded configuration file has display_errors on and error_reporting set to -1 (this is the equivalent E_ALL because it ensures all bits are turned on regardless of which version of PHP you’re running). Don’t hardcode the constant value of E_ALL, because that value is subject to change between different versions of PHP.

Loaded configuration is either your loaded php.ini file or your apache.conf or httpd.conf or virtualhost file. Those files are only read once during the startup stage (when you first start apache httpd or php-fpm, for example) and only overridden by runtime configuration changes. Making sure that display_errors = 1 and error_reporting = -1 in your loaded configuration file ensures that you will never see a WSOD regardless of syntax or parse error that occur before a runtime change like ini_set('display_errors', 1); or error_reporting(E_ALL); can take place.

To locate your loaded configuration file(s) just create a new PHP file with only the following code…

Then point your browser there and look at Loaded Configuration File and Additional .ini files parsed, which are usually at the top of your phpinfo() and will include the absolute path to all your loaded configuration files.

If you see (none) instead of the file, that means you don’t have a php.ini in Configuration File (php.ini) Path. So you can download the stock php.ini bundled with PHP from here and copy that to your configuration file path as php.ini then make sure your php user has sufficient permissions to read from that file. You’ll need to restart httpd or php-fpm to load it in. Remember, this is the development php.ini file that comes bundled with the PHP source. So please don’t use it in production!

This really is the best way to avoid a WSOD in development. Anyone suggesting that you put ini_set('display_errors', 1); or error_reporting(E_ALL); at the top of your PHP script or using .htaccess like you did here, is not going to help you avoid a WSOD when a syntax or parse error occurs (like in your case here) if your loaded configuration file has display_errors turned off.

Many people (and stock installations of PHP) will use a production-ini file that has display_errors turned off by default, which typically results in this same frustration you’ve experienced here. Because PHP already has it turned off when it starts up, then encounters a syntax or parse error, and bails with nothing to output. You expect that your ini_set('display_errors',1); at the top of your PHP script should have avoided that, but it won’t matter if PHP can’t parse your code because it will never have reached the runtime.