Undefined offset: -1 in wp-includes/post-template.php

[twisted1919]

Hello,

I am getting this notice:

<b>Notice</b>: Undefined offset: -1 in <b>/var/www/vhosts/domain/httpdocs/web/wp-includes/post-template.php</b> on line <b>287</b><br />

The logic that checks for index presence is faulty:

<?php
if ( $page > count( $pages ) ) // if the requested page doesn't exist
                $page = count( $pages ); // give them the highest numbered page that DOES exist

If $page is 0 or 1 and $pages is an empty array, you end up checking an out of bounds array and trigger this notice.

Maybe a more complete fix would be:

<?php
if ( $page > count( $pages ) ) // if the requested page doesn't exist
                $page = count( $pages ); // give them the highest numbered page that DOES exist

        $content = isset($pages[$page - 1]) ? $pages[$page - 1] : '';

Ow whatever you think it will avoid this.

Thanks.

[dd32]

Hey @twisted1919 and welcome back to Trac.

Can you provide some extra details on how you run into this? In what situations is $pages an empty array for example?

For an empty post, $pages should be array( 0 => '' )

[twisted1919]

Hello,

I am not exactly sure how to have you reproduce this, but it started when we upgraded woocommerce to latest version and then we also did this for wordpress, so i am not sure, maybe other plugins somehow interacts with that global variable, but eitherway, maybe wordpress should do a more in-depth check at that particular point to avoid this issue.

If you need anything else from me, list of plugins, or whatever info, let me know.

Thanks.

[hellofromTonya]

Hello @twisted1919,

Thank you for your report.

It sounds like a plugin changed the value of the global $pages variable. As it is a global variable, any code can change its value. It's designed to give access to themes, plugins, etc. With that access comes the potential for the value to be changed in unexpected ways, such as setting it to an empty array.

I'm closing this ticket as it does not appear to be a bug in WordPress Core itself.

I can understand the thinking of having core guard the value to prevent other code from resetting it to an empty array. However, the pages value is exposed by design. Changing it could cause problems for themes and plugins that use it.