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PHP5 Introduces Method Type Hinting. Type Hinting allows a function to force parameters to be objects of a particular class by specifying the name of the class in the function prototype.

Type Hinting is optional in all cases except catch block.

Look at the example below without Method Type Hinting

class Customer {
	...
}
 
class Order {
   public function myfunc($c) 
   {
	...
   }
}
 
$o = new Order();
$o->myfunc(“any data”);

In the above code on line number starting from 6 to 9, the method myfunc() accepts any type of parameter and on line 13 we pass it a string data. However, I as the designer of the class wanted the developer to pass a Customer type of object to the function myfunc(), but because I did not specify the type in the function; any data can be passed. Method type hinting has been introduced to avoid such type issues.

Example of Method Type Hinting

class Customer {
	...
}
 
class Order {
   public function myfunc(Customer $c) 
   {
	...
   }
}
 
$o = new Order();
$o->myfunc(“any data”); //gives error as it expects Customer Object
 
$c = new Customer();
$o->myfunc($c); //works fine as $c is a Customer object

The above code is similar to the previous code, except that the only change is on line number 6. Take your time to compare the difference. The myfunc() now accepts a parameter of type Customer only. Therefore, line number 13 gives an error and line number 16 works well as $c is a customer object.

In the next PHP5 tutorial you will learn about the $this variable.

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Filed under: PHP, PHP Tutorials, PHP5 OOPS Tutorials