Class member variables are called properties. You may also see
them referred to using other terms such as attributes or
fields, but for the purposes of this reference we will use
properties. They are defined by using one of the
keywords public
, protected
,
or private
, optionally followed by a type declaration,
followed by a normal variable declaration. This declaration may
include an initialization, but this initialization must be a constant
value--that is, it must be able to be evaluated at compile time and
must not depend on run-time information in order to be evaluated.
See Visibility for more
information on the meanings
of public
, protected
,
and private
.
Note:
In order to maintain backward compatibility with PHP 4, PHP 5 will still accept the use of the keyword
var
in property declarations instead of (or in addition to)public
,protected
, orprivate
. However,var
is no longer required. In versions of PHP from 5.0 to 5.1.3, the use ofvar
was considered deprecated and would issue anE_STRICT
warning, but since PHP 5.1.3 it is no longer deprecated and does not issue the warning.If you declare a property using
var
instead of one ofpublic
,protected
, orprivate
, then PHP 5 will treat the property as if it had been declared aspublic
.
Within class methods non-static properties may be accessed by using
->
(Object Operator): $this->property
(where property
is the name of the property).
Static properties are accessed by using the ::
(Double Colon):
self::$property. See Static Keyword
for more information on the difference between static and non-static properties.
The pseudo-variable $this is available inside any class method when that method is called from within an object context. $this is a reference to the calling object (usually the object to which the method belongs, but possibly another object, if the method is called statically from the context of a secondary object).
Example #1 property declarations
<?php
class SimpleClass
{
// valid as of PHP 5.6.0:
public $var1 = 'hello ' . 'world';
// valid as of PHP 5.3.0:
public $var2 = <<<EOD
hello world
EOD;
// valid as of PHP 5.6.0:
public $var3 = 1+2;
// invalid property declarations:
public $var4 = self::myStaticMethod();
public $var5 = $myVar;
// valid property declarations:
public $var6 = myConstant;
public $var7 = array(true, false);
// valid as of PHP 5.3.0:
public $var8 = <<<'EOD'
hello world
EOD;
}
?>
Note:
There are some nice functions to handle classes and objects. You might want to take a look at the Class/Object Functions.
As of PHP 5.3.0 heredocs and nowdocs can be used in any static data context, including property declarations.
Example #2 Example of using a nowdoc to initialize a property
<?php
class foo {
// As of PHP 5.3.0
public $bar = <<<'EOT'
bar
EOT;
public $baz = <<<EOT
baz
EOT;
}
?>
Note:
Nowdoc and Heredoc support was added in PHP 5.3.0.
As of PHP 7.4.0, property definitions can include a type declaration.
Example #3 Example of typed properties
<?php
class User
{
public int $id;
public ?string $name;
public function __construct(int $id, ?string $name)
{
$this->id = $id;
$this->name = $name;
}
}
$user = new User(1234, null);
var_dump($user->id);
var_dump($user->name);
?>
The above example will output:
int(1234) NULL
Typed properties must be initialized before accessing, otherwise an Error is thrown.
Example #4 Accessing properties
<?php
class Shape
{
public int $numberOfSides;
public string $name;
public function setNumberOfSides(int $numberOfSides): void
{
$this->numberOfSides = $numberOfSides;
}
public function setName(string $name): void
{
$this->name = $name;
}
public function getNumberOfSides(): int
{
return $this->numberOfSides;
}
public function getName(): string
{
return $this->name;
}
}
$triangle = new Shape();
$triangle->setName("triangle");
$triangle->setNumberofSides(3);
var_dump($triangle->getName());
var_dump($triangle->getNumberOfSides());
$circle = new Shape();
$circle->setName("circle");
var_dump($circle->getName());
var_dump($circle->getNumberOfSides());
?>
The above example will output:
string(8) "triangle" int(3) string(6) "circle" Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Typed property Shape::$numberOfSides must not be accessed before initialization
Type | Description | Minimum PHP version |
---|---|---|
bool | The property must be boolean value. | PHP 7.4.0 |
int | The property must be an integer. | PHP 7.4.0 |
float | The property must be a floating point number. | PHP 7.4.0 |
string | The property must be a string. | PHP 7.4.0 |
array | The property must be an array. | PHP 7.4.0 |
object |
The property must be an object. | PHP 7.4.0 |
iterable |
The property must be either an array or an instanceof
Traversable.
|
PHP 7.4.0 |
self |
The property must be an instanceof the same class in which the
property is defined.
|
PHP 7.4.0 |
parent |
The property must be an instanceof the parent class of the class
in which the property is defined.
|
PHP 7.4.0 |
Class/interface name |
The property must be an instanceof the given class or interface
name.
|
PHP 7.4.0 |
?type |
The property must be the specified type, or NULL .
|
PHP 7.4.0 |