What is the function __construct used for?

php constructor
Levi picture Levi · Jan 18, 2009 · Viewed 228.3k times · Source

I have been noticing __construct a lot with classes. I did a little reading and surfing the web, but I couldn't find an explanation I could understand. I am just beginning with OOP.

I was wondering if someone could give me a general idea of what it is, and then a simple example of how it is used with PHP?

Answer

Jan Hančič picture Jan Hančič · Jan 18, 2009

__construct was introduced in PHP5 and it is the right way to define your, well, constructors (in PHP4 you used the name of the class for a constructor). You are not required to define a constructor in your class, but if you wish to pass any parameters on object construction then you need one.

An example could go like this:

class Database {
  protected $userName;
  protected $password;
  protected $dbName;

  public function __construct ( $UserName, $Password, $DbName ) {
    $this->userName = $UserName;
    $this->password = $Password;
    $this->dbName = $DbName;
  }
}

// and you would use this as:
$db = new Database ( 'user_name', 'password', 'database_name' );

Everything else is explained in the PHP manual: click here

Related questions

How do I get a PHP class constructor to call its parent's parent's constructor?

I need to have a class constructor in PHP call its parent's parent's (grandparent?) constructor without calling the parent constructor. // main class that everything inherits class Grandpa { public function __construct() { } } class Papa extends Grandpa { public function __construct() { // call Grandpa's constructor …

Read More
Best way to do multiple constructors in PHP

You can't put two __construct functions with unique argument signatures in a PHP class. I'd like to do this: class Student { protected $id; protected $name; // etc. public function __construct($id){ $this->id = $id; // other members are still uninitialized } public …

Read More
PHP constructor with a parameter

I need a function that will do something like this: $arr = array(); // This is the array where I'm storing data $f = new MyRecord(); // I have __constructor in class Field() that sets some default values $f->{'fid'} = 1; $f->{'fvalue-string'} = $_…

Read More