Object Operators in PHP

Answer

There are two object operators in PHP. The symbols are -> and ::

-> Operator

The object operator -> is used when you have to access an Instance property or call a method just like a dot (.) in other languages. For example, if there is a ‘Students’ class that includes the method ‘Marks’, we access it by creating an object say ‘Student’. In other languages:

Student.Marks();

In PHP, The object operator -> is used for this purpose e.g.

$Student->Marks();

:: or scope resolution operator

:: or scope resolution operator is used when you want to call a static method, variable or a parent class’s version of a method within a child class. It is called scope resolution operator as it is used to refer the scope of some program context or a block e.g. classes, objects, namespace etc.

For example,

class Students
{ 
function getMarks()
 { 
   return $marks;
 }  
} 
$marks = Students::getMarks();

:: operator is used when the object has not been created until the class functions or variables are accessed outside the scope of the class.