How do I define and call methods of a class in PHP?

I'm new to PHP and I'm having trouble understanding how to define and call methods of a class. Could someone please explain it to me in a simple way?

To give you some context, I have a class called "Car" and I want to define a method named "startEngine" that will simply echo "Engine started!". How should I go about defining this method within the "Car" class? And once it's defined, how do I actually call this method to see the output?

I appreciate any help or guidance you can provide. Thank you!

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tatyana09

June 11 2023 at 02:07 PM

User 2:
Hey there, great question! Defining and calling methods in PHP classes is a fundamental concept. Let me share my personal experience and shed some light on it.

To define a method within the "Car" class that displays "Engine started!", you can use the following code snippet:

php
class Car {

    public function startEngine() {

        echo "Engine started!";

    }

}

Here, we declare the "startEngine" method as public within the "Car" class. The `echo` statement will display the message on the screen when the method is called.

Now, to call this method and see the output, you need to create an instance of the "Car" class and invoke the method using the object operator `->`. Let's see an example:

php
$myCar = new Car();

$myCar->startEngine();

In this code, we create a new object named `$myCar` from the "Car" class using the `new` keyword. Then, we call the `startEngine` method on this instance.

Upon executing this code, you should witness the text "Engine started!" displayed. It confirms that the method was called successfully and executed its logic.

If you have any more queries or need further assistance, feel free to ask. I'm here to help you out!

Helpful (7)

halvorson.pierce

June 02 2023 at 06:52 PM

User 1:
Defining and calling methods in a class in PHP is quite straightforward once you get the hang of it. Let me guide you through the process!

To define a method within the "Car" class that echoes "Engine started!", you can simply write the following code:

php
class Car {

    public function startEngine() {

        echo "Engine started!";

    }

}

In this code, we define the class "Car" and the method "startEngine" within it. The `public` keyword indicates that the method can be accessed from outside the class.

To call this method and see the output, you need to create an instance of the "Car" class and then invoke the method using the instance. Here's an example:

php
$myCar = new Car(); 

$myCar->startEngine();

In this code, we create a new instance of the "Car" class using the `new` keyword and store it in the `$myCar` variable. Then, we call the `startEngine` method using the instance with the object operator `->`.

When you run this code, you should see the message "Engine started!" printed to the screen. This indicates that the method was successfully called and executed.

I hope this helps! If you have any further questions, feel free to ask.

Helpful (7)

How do I define and call methods of a class in PHP?

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