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Object-Oriented Programming in PHP

Access Modifiers: Public vs Private

Learn about the public and private access modifiers and how they can be accessed from outside the class.

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The public access modifier

The public access modifier allows code from both outside and inside the class to access the class’s methods and properties.

How to access a public property

In the following example, the class’s property and method are defined as public, so the code outside the class can directly interact with them.

PHP
<?php
class Car {
  // Public methods and properties
  public $model;
  public function getModel() 
  {
    return "The car model is " . $this -> model; 
  }
}
$mercedes = new Car();
// Here we access a property from outside the class
$mercedes -> model = "Mercedes";
// Here again we access another method from outside the class
echo $mercedes -> getModel();
?>

In line 15, we set the public property $model ...