Quick Guide To PHP Constructors

Here we are going to examine PHP constructors, including how they are defined and used in your code, as well as how you can make use of them.

We will also discuss constructor arguments, which are used when building objects to pass data into PHP constructor when it is being created.

PHP constructors are one of the key functions in object-oriented programming. When an object is created from a class, the constructor is called automatically in order to create the object.

In the constructor method, initialization of all the properties of the object as well as other setup requirements are performed before the object can be used.



PHP Constructor – What is it?

PHP constructor is a special method that is called when an object is created from a class.

It is used to initialize the object’s properties and perform any necessary setup tasks.

Constructors are declared with the same name as the class and are preceded by the keyword “function”.

When a new object is created, PHP automatically calls the constructor function to set up the object’s properties.

If a constructor is not defined in the class, PHP will use a default constructor that does not perform any initialization tasks.


PHP __construct Function

When you create an object, its properties are initialized by its constructor.

During the creation of an object from a class, PHP automatically calls your __construct() function if you include it in the class definition.

The construct function begins with two underscores (__) at the start of the name!

According to the example below, using a constructor will allow us to avoid calling the setName() method, as a result, reducing the amount of code on the page:

Example: 

<?php class Student { public $name; public $age;function __construct($name) { $this->name = $name; } function getName() { return $this->name; } } $std1 = new Student("Alex"); echo $std1->getName(); ?>
Here is another example of demonstrating a constructor with multiple arguments in PHP:

Example: 

<?php class Student { public $name; public $age;function __construct($name, $age) { $this->name = $name; $this->age = $age; } function getName() { return $this->name; } function getAge() { return $this->age; } } $std1 = new Student("Alex", "25"); echo "Name: ".$std1->getName(); echo " "; echo "Age: ".$std1->getAge(); ?>

Example Explanation

Above example of an object-oriented programming concept called constructors and getters. It defines a class called “Student” with two properties, $name and $age, and three methods, including a constructor method, __construct(), and two getter methods, getName() and getAge().

The __construct() method is a special method that is automatically called when an object of the class is created using the “new” keyword. In this case, the constructor takes two parameters, $name and $age, and sets the values of the $name and $age properties of the object to these parameter values.

The getName() and getAge() methods are getter methods that return the values of the $name and $age properties of the object, respectively.

When the script is executed, an object of the class “Student” is created using the “new” keyword and the constructor is called with the arguments “Alex” and “25”. This sets the value of the $name property to “Alex” and the $age property to 25.

Then, the getName() and getAge() methods are called on the object and their return values are echoed to the screen using the “echo” statement. This outputs the following text on the screen:

Name: Alex
Age: 25

In summary, this example demonstrates the use of constructors and getters in PHP.

Constructors are used to initialize the properties of an object when it is created, while getters are used to retrieve the values of the properties of the object.

By using these methods, developers can ensure that objects are properly initialized and that their properties are accessed only through defined interfaces.

You can help others learn about the power and flexible nature of PHP by sharing our article on social media below.

This will enable them to create dynamic and interactive web applications.

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