What does "->" mean in php?

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Reference - What does this symbol mean in PHP?

What exactly does -> do in php?

I have a good understanding of the basics of php but never understood this. I tend to see in apps that use Codeignitor.

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 21 '11 at 01:25

4

It accesses accessible child methods or properties of objects:

class myClass {
  public $fizz = 'Buzz';
  public function foo() {
    echo 'Bar';
  }
}

$myclass = new myClass();
$myclass->foo(); // outputs 'bar'
$myclass->fizz = 'Not Buzz'; // overwrites $fizz value

answered Jul 21 '11 at 01:25

Sampson

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the best of understanding it is through an example. Excellent! – Zhianc Oct 24 '11 at 22:07

studioromeo · Answer 2 · 2012-04-12T22:33:25.983

3

I'm sure theres a more technical explanation but that is used to access properties and methods of an object.

edited Apr 12 '12 at 22:33

answered Jul 21 '11 at 01:25

studioromeo

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score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 21 '11 at 01:26

2

Its basically the equivalent to the . in javascript. The both acess an Objects properties/methods.

The biggest difference is that in PHP only classes are Objects. While in JavaScript everything is an Object.

Therefore you can't do "string"->method() in php while you can do the equivalent in JavaScript "string".method().

answered Jul 21 '11 at 01:26

Lime

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PERFECT!!! now this i understand! lol good job. – somdow Apr 12 '12 at 13:22

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 21 '11 at 01:24

1

-> is accessing a varible inside of a class, so that

$class->variableInClass

It also can work with functions, with the same syntax as above.

If you're not familiar with OOP, I'd suggest looking here

answered Jul 21 '11 at 01:24

Precursor

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Not a regular user of PHP, but don't you mean object? You would use the `::` operator to access class variables. – Cristian Sanchez Jul 21 '11 at 01:25
"Variables inside of a class" are actually "properties of an object" ))) And with `->` not only properties can be used. – zerkms Jul 21 '11 at 01:25

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Jul 21 '11 at 01:25

Well I would razz you a bit because this is a very common operator. However it's very difficult to google for, so I understand.

This is a class access operator. It allows you to access members and functions of a class. So for example if I have a class named A with a member x, I could access it like this:

$a = new A();
$a->x;

What does "->" mean in php?

5 Answers5