Question

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Reference – What does this symbol mean in PHP?

Sorry for being so pedantic about this, but I’m confused about the object operator (->). What exactly is it doing and how (to avoid errors and misusing) do I use it?

Answer 1

In order to use the object operator, you will need to create and instantiate a class, as follows:

class MyClass {
  public $myVar;

  public function myMethod() {

  }
}

$instance = new MyClass();

$instance->myVar = "Hello World"; // Assign "Hello World" to "myVar"
$instance->myMethod(); // Run "myMethod()"

Let me explain the above code:

1. First, a class with a name of “MyClass” is created, with a variable of “myVar” and a method (basically a function within a class) with a name of “myMethod”.
2. “$instance” is created, and then it is assigned a new instance of the “MyClass” class.
3. $instance->myVar, with the object operator accesses the public instance variable within the $instance object, and assigns it a value of “Hello World”. Similarly, the “myMethod” is called within the $instance object, also using the object operator.

The object operator is simply PHPs way of accessing, running, or assigning “stuff” within an object.

Hope that helps.