Re: VAR and variables

At 3:00 PM -0600 1/25/01, Matt wrote:

I have a question that may seem kind of silly, but I'm curious... When using PHP why would one use "var" to define a variable as opposed to just regularly creating it?

Because that's the way it is ;). The var is part of the syntax of a class definition; it isn't used anywhere else. I don't know the actual deep reason for having it, as far as the parser is concerned, but it does make it clear - at least to me - what the class variables are. You can also initialize the variable here, too: var $a = 5;

For example, if I have a class defined as below: <pre> class Simple { var $a; function Simple() {

    $this->a = 5;

} function first() {

    return $this->a;

} } </pre> This class, when created, sets the variable $a to 5, and the function first returns the value in $a.... my question is could I omit the var and still have it function in this fashion? What is the purpose of it? Also, can I access this variable through the same -> convention, i.e. would the following be allowed? <pre> $test = new Simple(); echo $test->a; </pre>

Yep. You can also _set_ $a this way: $test = new simple; $test->a = 77; echo $test->first(); will display 77. See http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.oop.php for more info. - steve -- +--- "They've got a cherry pie there, that'll kill ya" ------------------+ | Steve Edberg University of California, Davis | | sbedberg@ucdavis.edu Computer Consultant | | http://aesric.ucdavis.edu/ http://pgfsun.ucdavis.edu/ | +-------------------------------------- FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper ---+