Question

http://php.net/manual/en/language.oop5.properties.php shows the following example which fails for me.

class SimpleClass{
   private $var3 = 1+2;
}

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '+', expecting ',' or ';'....

Any ideas why?

php version 5.4.9

Answer 1

The documentation never states that it is a valid property declaration. It specifically states its an invalid example.

directly from your link

<?php
class SimpleClass
{
   // invalid property declarations:
   public $var1 = 'hello ' . 'world';
   public $var2 = <<<EOD
hello world
EOD;
   public $var3 = 1+2;
   public $var4 = self::myStaticMethod();
   public $var5 = $myVar;

   // valid property declarations:
   public $var6 = myConstant;
   public $var7 = array(true, false);

   // This is allowed only in PHP 5.3.0 and later.
   public $var8 = <<<'EOD'
hello world
EOD;
}
?>

this is just how the language syntax is defined for PHP.