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PHP allows an identifier in a class to be defined as a “class constant” with a constant value, the one that remains unchanged on a per class basis. To differentiate from a variable or property within class, the name of the constant is not prefixed with the usual “$” symbol and is defined with the “const” qualifier. Note that a PHP program can also have a global constant created using the define() function.
The default visibility of a constant is public, although other modifiers may be used in the definition. The value of a constant must be an expression and not a variable, nor a function call/property. The value of a constant is accessed through the class name using the scope resolution operator. Inside a method though, it can be referred to through self variable.
class SomeClass { const CONSTANT = ''constant value''; } echo SomeClass::CONSTANT;
Constant names are case sensitive. Conventionally, the names of constants are in upper case.
Example
This example shows how a Class Constant is defined and accessed −
<?php class square { const PI=M_PI; var $side=5; function area() { $area=$this->side**2*self::PI; return $area; } } $s1=new square(); echo "PI=". square::PI . "n"; echo "area=" . $s1->area(); ?>
It will produce the following output −
PI=3.1415926535898 area=78.539816339745
Class Constant as Expression
In this example, the class constant is assigned an expression −
<?php const X = 22; const Y=7; class square { const PI=X/Y; var $side=5; function area() { $area=$this->side**2*self::PI; return $area; } } $s1=new square(); echo "PI=". square::PI . "n"; echo "area=" . $s1->area(); ?>
It will produce the following output −
PI=3.1428571428571 area=78.571428571429
Class Constant Visibility Modifiers
Take a look at the following example −
<?php class example { const X=10; private const Y=20; } $s1=new example(); echo "public=". example::X. "n"; echo "private=" . $s1->Y ."n"; echo "private=" . $example::Y ."n"; ?>
It will produce the following output −
public=10 PHP Notice: Undefined property: example::$Y in line 11 private= PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Cannot access private const example::Y
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