Although not necessary in PHP however it is a very good practice to initialize variables. Uninitialized variables have a default value of their type depending on the context in which they are used:

Unset AND unreferenced

var_dump($unset_var); // outputs NULL

Boolean

echo($unset_bool ? "true\\n" : "false\\n"); // outputs 'false'

String

$unset_str .= 'abc';
var_dump($unset_str); // outputs 'string(3) "abc"'

Integer

$unset_int += 25; // 0 + 25 => 25
var_dump($unset_int); // outputs 'int(25)'

Float/double

$unset_float += 1.25;
var_dump($unset_float); // outputs 'float(1.25)'

Array

$unset_arr[3] = "def";
var_dump($unset_arr); //  outputs array(1) {  [3]=>  string(3) "def" }

Object

$unset_obj->foo = 'bar';
var_dump($unset_obj); // Outputs: object(stdClass)#1 (1) {  ["foo"]=>  string(3) "bar" }

Relying on the default value of an uninitialized variable is problematic in the case of including one file into another which uses the same variable name.