note 46290 added to language.oop5

PHP 5 is very very flexible in accessing member variables and member functions. These access methods maybe look unusual and unnecessary at first glance; but they are very useful sometimes; specially when you work with SimpleXML classes and objects. I have posted a similar comment in SimpleXML function reference section, but this one is more comprehensive. I use the following class as reference for all examples: <? class Foo { public $aMemberVar = 'aMemberVar Member Variable'; public $aFuncName = 'aMemberFunc'; function aMemberFunc() { print 'Inside aMemberFunc()'; } } $foo = new Foo; ?> You can access member variables in an object using another variable as name: <? $element = 'aMemberVar'; print $foo->$element; // prints "aMemberVar Member Variable" ?> or use functions: <? function getVarName() { return 'aMemberVar'; } print $foo->{getVarName()}; // prints "aMemberVar Member Variable" ?> Important Note: You must surround function name with { and } or PHP would think you are calling a member function of object "foo". you can use a constant or literal as well: <? define(MY_CONSTANT, 'aMemberVar'); print $foo->{MY_CONSTANT}; // Prints "aMemberVar Member Variable" print $foo->{'aMemberVar'}; // Prints "aMemberVar Member Variable" ?> You can use members of other objects as well: <? print $foo->{$otherObj->var}; print $foo->{$otherObj->func()}; ?> You can use mathods above to access member functions as well: <? print $foo->{'aMemberFunc'}(); // Prints "Inside aMemberFunc()" print $foo->{$foo->aFuncName}(); // Prints "Inside aMemberFunc()" ?> ---- Manual Page -- http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.oop5.php Edit -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=edit+46290 Delete -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=delete+46290&report=yes Reject -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=reject+46290&report=yes Search -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php