Question

$someClass sc=new SomeClass();

What I want to know is what will be in the variable sc if the constructor fails for some reason (like maybe not enough memory). I can’ t find a straight answer?

Answer 1

A constructor can fail for mainly two reasons:

1. Out of memory; not unique to objects, this causes a fatal error and your script won’t continue.

2. An exception is thrown; your script will stop unless the exception is caught using a ‘try-catch’ clause.

try {
    $sc = new SomeClass(); // exception is thrown inside the constructor
} catch (Exception $e) {
    echo "Yikes, object didn't get created; error = {$e->getMessage()}\n";
}