What's the difference between :: (double colon) and -> (arrow) in PHP?

Question

There are two distinct ways to access methods in PHP, but what's the difference?

$response->setParameter('foo', 'bar');

and

sfConfig::set('foo', 'bar');

I'm assuming -> (dash with greater than sign or chevron) is used for functions for variables, and :: (double colons) is used for functions for classes. Correct?

Is the => assignment operator only used to assign data within an array? Is this in contrast to the = assignment operator which is used to instantiate or modify a variable?

Answer 1

When the left part is an object instance, you use ->. Otherwise, you use ::.

This means that -> is mostly used to access instance members (though it can also be used to access static members, such usage is discouraged), while :: is usually used to access static members (though in a few special cases, it's used to access instance members).

In general, :: is used for scope resolution, and it may have either a class name, parent, self, or (in PHP 5.3) static to its left. parent refers to the scope of the superclass of the class where it's used; self refers to the scope of the class where it's used; static refers to the "called scope" (see late static bindings).

The rule is that a call with :: is an instance call if and only if:

• the target method is not declared as static and
• there is a compatible object context at the time of the call, meaning these must be true:
  1. the call is made from a context where $this exists and
  2. the class of $this is either the class of the method being called or a subclass of it.

Example:

class A {
    public function func_instance() {
        echo "in ", __METHOD__, "\n";
    }
    public function callDynamic() {
        echo "in ", __METHOD__, "\n";
        B::dyn();
    }

}

class B extends A {
    public static $prop_static = 'B::$prop_static value';
    public $prop_instance = 'B::$prop_instance value';

    public function func_instance() {
        echo "in ", __METHOD__, "\n";
        /* this is one exception where :: is required to access an
         * instance member.
         * The super implementation of func_instance is being
         * accessed here */
        parent::func_instance();
        A::func_instance(); //same as the statement above
    }

    public static function func_static() {
        echo "in ", __METHOD__, "\n";
    }

    public function __call($name, $arguments) {
        echo "in dynamic $name (__call)", "\n";
    }

    public static function __callStatic($name, $arguments) {
        echo "in dynamic $name (__callStatic)", "\n";
    }

}

echo 'B::$prop_static: ', B::$prop_static, "\n";
echo 'B::func_static(): ', B::func_static(), "\n";
$a = new A;
$b = new B;
echo '$b->prop_instance: ', $b->prop_instance, "\n";
//not recommended (static method called as instance method):
echo '$b->func_static(): ', $b->func_static(), "\n";

echo '$b->func_instance():', "\n", $b->func_instance(), "\n";

/* This is more tricky
 * in the first case, a static call is made because $this is an
 * instance of A, so B::dyn() is a method of an incompatible class
 */
echo '$a->dyn():', "\n", $a->callDynamic(), "\n";
/* in this case, an instance call is made because $this is an
 * instance of B (despite the fact we are in a method of A), so
 * B::dyn() is a method of a compatible class (namely, it's the
 * same class as the object's)
 */
echo '$b->dyn():', "\n", $b->callDynamic(), "\n";

Output:

B::$prop_static: B::$prop_static value
B::func_static(): in B::func_static

$b->prop_instance: B::$prop_instance value
$b->func_static(): in B::func_static

$b->func_instance():
in B::func_instance
in A::func_instance
in A::func_instance

$a->dyn():
in A::callDynamic
in dynamic dyn (__callStatic)

$b->dyn():
in A::callDynamic
in dynamic dyn (__call)

Answer 2

:: is used in static context, ie. when some method or property is declared as static:

class Math {
    public static function sin($angle) {
        return ...;
    }
}

$result = Math::sin(123);

Also, the :: operator (the Scope Resolution Operator, a.k.a Paamayim Nekudotayim) is used in dynamic context when you invoke a method/property of a parent class:

class Rectangle {
     protected $x, $y;

     public function __construct($x, $y) {
         $this->x = $x;
         $this->y = $y;
     }
}

class Square extends Rectangle {
    public function __construct($x) {
        parent::__construct($x, $x);
    }
}

-> is used in dynamic context, ie. when you deal with some instance of some class:

class Hello {
    public function say() {
       echo 'hello!';
    }
}

$h = new Hello();
$h->say();

By the way: I don't think that using Symfony is a good idea when you don't have any OOP experience.

Answer 3

Actually by this symbol we can call a class method that is static and not be dependent on other initialization...

class Test {

    public $name;

    public function __construct() {
        $this->name = 'Mrinmoy Ghoshal';
    }

    public static function doWrite($name) {
        print 'Hello '.$name;
    }

    public function write() {
        print $this->name;
    }
}

Here the doWrite() function is not dependent on any other method or variable, and it is a static method. That's why we can call this method by this operator without initializing the object of this class.

Test::doWrite('Mrinmoy'); // Output: Hello Mrinmoy.

But if you want to call the write method in this way, it will generate an error because it is dependent on initialization.

Answer 4

The => operator is used to assign key-value pairs in an associative array. For example:

$fruits = array(
  'Apple'  => 'Red',
  'Banana' => 'Yellow'
);

It's meaning is similar in the foreach statement:

foreach ($fruits as $fruit => $color)
  echo "$fruit is $color in color.";

Answer 5

The difference between static and instantiated methods and properties seem to be one of the biggest obstacles to those just starting out with OOP PHP in PHP 5.

The double colon operator (which is called the Paamayim Nekudotayim from Hebrew - trivia) is used when calling an object or property from a static context. This means an instance of the object has not been created yet.

The arrow operator, conversely, calls methods or properties that from a reference of an instance of the object.

Static methods can be especially useful in object models that are linked to a database for create and delete methods, since you can set the return value to the inserted table id and then use the constructor to instantiate the object by the row id.

Answer 6

Yes, I just hit my first 'PHP Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_PAAMAYIM_NEKUDOTAYIM'. My bad, I had a $instance::method() that should have been $instance->method(). Silly me.

The odd thing is that this still works just fine on my local machine (running PHP 5.3.8) - nothing, not even a warning with error_reporting = E_ALL - but not at all on the test server, there it just explodes with a syntax error and a white screen in the browser. Since PHP logging was turned off at the test machine, and the hosting company was too busy to turn it on, it was not too obvious.

So, word of warning: apparently, some PHP installations will let you use a $instance::method(), while others don't.

If anybody can expand on why that is, please do.