CODEWITHSUNDEEP
phpoop
Peter
Peter

Reputation: 21

What does this mean (->) in $variable->function()?

Hello guys I've looking on many php scripts and I saw something like this 

$variable->function($var1, $var2, $var3)

So what does this -> exactly do ?

and thank you.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 145

Answers (5)

DrColossos
DrColossos

Reputation: 12988

PHP Object Orientation Basics

A more generic info at Wikipedia: Object Oriented Programming

I don't think it is a good idea to give a direct answer, like the others already did but to give a link to the topic itself since without the background, most of the answers won't make much sense.

Upvotes: 1

jbnunn
jbnunn

Reputation: 6355

The -> access a function within the $variable's class. So a $variable might be an instance of a class like,

$variable = new Person();
$variable->showFirstName();

and in class Person, there would be a function

function showFirstName() {
    echo $this->$first_name;
}

Upvotes: 0

Adrian Smith
Adrian Smith

Reputation: 17553

It calls a method on an object. But to understand what that means, you need to understand object-oriented programming in PHP. The manual is extremely good, read it here:

http://php.net/manual/en/language.oop5.php

Upvotes: 1

simshaun
simshaun

Reputation: 21466

It implies $variable is an object, and is calling the "function" method of the object assigned to $variable.

Upvotes: 0

Michele
Michele

Reputation: 6131

its a function call on an object

Object-Variable: $variable

Call: ->

Function: function(...)

Upvotes: 7

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