At 14.52 15/01/2001 -0500, you wrote:
>Just curious.  Reading a book on PHP and this code was used:

The '@' before every php built-in function, disable any warning or error 
message (if php runtime configuration is set to display them). By doing so, 
you can avoid all of the 'crappy' default messages that are shown after a 
failed database operation, for instance.

Ciao
-Gabriele