<?php $x=TRUE; $y=FALSE; $z=$y OR $x; ?> Is $z TRUE or FALSE? In this case, $z will be FALSE because the above code is equivalent to <?php ($z=$y) OR $x ?> rather than <?php $z=($y OR $x) ?> as might be expected - because the OR operator has lower precedence than assignment operators. On the other hand, after this code sequence: <?php $x=TRUE; $y=FALSE; $z=$y || $x; ?> $z will be TRUE, as expected, because the || operator has higher precedence than assignment: The code is equivalent to $z=($y OR $x). This is why you should NEVER use the OR operator without explicit parentheses around the expression where it is being used.