php - PDO returns false instead of empty array

Question

I am using PHP 7.4 and my class have a function that should return an array. But if the row is empty it returns false instead of an empty array. That is why I get an error message:

Return value must be of type array, bool returned

private function getCartItem(int $sku): array
{
    $statement = $this->pdo->prepare("SELECT * FROM pbo_cartItem WHERE cartId = ? AND sku = ?");
    $statement->execute(array($this->cartId, $sku));
    return $statement->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);
}

question from:https://stackoverflow.com/questions/65852300/pdo-returns-false-instead-of-empty-array

Answer 1

The PDOStatement::fetch() method returns false if there are no more rows in the result set.

To overcome this error message, provide an empty array as a default value in case no rows were found.

return $statement->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC) ?: [];