I guess the third entry is the required access level (to change this variable at runtime):
Constant Value Meaning
PHP_INI_USER 1 Entry can be set in user scripts
PHP_INI_PERDIR 2 Entry can be set in php.ini, .htaccess or httpd.conf
PHP_INI_SYSTEM 4 Entry can be set in php.ini or httpd.conf
PHP_INI_ALL 7 Entry can be set anywhere
See also the docs for ini_set()
Hugo.