What does "->" do in PHP?

Question

I am studying how to connect database while learning PHP. Just a quick question. Does anyone can tell me what does "->" sign do in PHP? I cannot understand the functionality of this sign so that I have no idea how to edit the code. Thank whoever answer this.

Nice one, bro. I get it. It's my Stackoverflow 101. – MistyBreeze Jun 11 '15 at 05:34 — MistyBreeze, Jun 11 '15 at 05:34

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 11 '15 at 03:33

-> Sign used in objects, to access it's property and methods.

class example{
    public $prop1 = 'Hello World';

    public function sayHello(){
        echo $this->prop1;
    }
}

$example = new example();
$example->sayHello();

Ref: Classes and Objects in PHP

score 2 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:43

2

-> Is Used to refer the Classes And Objects for more information check here.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:43

Community

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answered Jun 11 '15 at 03:32

Sarvagna Mehta

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score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 11 '15 at 03:36

2

You haven't posted any code, so I'm not 100% sure where you saw this, but I'm almost certain you are referring to something like this:

$foo = new Foo();
echo $foo->bar;

In this example, -> is used to access a property of an object, $foo. It can also be used to access a method, as in $foo->baz();.

answered Jun 11 '15 at 03:36

elixenide

44,308
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tut, you should know this should just be closed and not answered ;-) – Jun 11 '15 at 03:40
2

@Dagon It's certainly not a good, SO-worthy question. On the other hand, I'm sympathetic with OP just because it would be basically impossible for a true beginner to search for that syntax. Google, for example, wouldn't help much. – elixenide Jun 11 '15 at 03:42
well actually if you put the exact question title in Google you get a great answer – Jun 11 '15 at 03:43
@Dagon Huh. I stand corrected. Google usually isn't a lot of help with programming syntax, so I just assumed it wouldn't be helpful here. – elixenide Jun 11 '15 at 03:49
@EdCottrell even in [php search](http://php.net/manual-lookup.php?pattern=->&scope=quickref) it returns `-> doesn't exist. Closest matches:` – YesItsMe Jun 11 '15 at 05:33

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 11 '15 at 03:34

For real quick and dirty one-liner anonymous objects, just cast an associative array:

<?php

$obj = (object) array('foo' => 'bar', 'property' => 'value');

echo $obj->foo; // prints 'bar'
echo $obj->property; // prints 'value'

?>

... no need to create a new class or function to accomplish it.

What does "->" do in PHP?

4 Answers4