PHP Object Indices as Strings?

Question

Is there a way to access a member of an object, by using its name as a string?

When I declare an array...

$array = array();
$array['description_en']="hello";
$array['description_fr']="bonjour";

then I access a member like this:

$lang="en"; //just to show my purpose. it will be dynamic
$description = $array['description_'.$lang];

Can I do the same thing for objects?

For example:

$obj->description_en="hello";
$obj->description_fr="bonjour";

How can I access $obj->description_.$lang ?

$obj->{"description_".$lang} or $objRef = "description_".$lang; $obj->$objRef — Mark Baker
– Mark Baker, Commented Jul 30, 2013 at 13:01
@MarkBaker Can I ask why that's a comment instead of an answer? That's worth of being posted as a full answer isn't it? — MDEV
– MDEV, Commented Jul 30, 2013 at 13:03
@SmokeyPHP - mainly because I don't consider it worthy of answering if I can post a response in fewer characters than the limit of a tweet — Mark Baker
– Mark Baker, Commented Jul 30, 2013 at 13:05

Prisoner · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-30 13:03:10Z

3

class test
{
    public $description_en = 'english';
}

$obj = new test();
$lang = 'en';
echo $obj->{"description_".$lang}; // echo's "english"

You can see more examples of variable variables here.

answered Jul 30, 2013 at 13:03

Prisoner

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1 Comment

jeff Over a year ago

Thank you ! and all the other answers.

MightyPork · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-30 13:03:15Z

2

You can use this syntax:

<?php

class MyClass {
    public $varA = 11;
    public $varB = 22;
    public $varC = 33;
}

$myObj = new MyClass();

echo $myObj->{"varA"} . "<br>";
echo $myObj->{"varB"} . "<br>";
echo $myObj->{"varC"} . "<br>";

This way, you can access object variables as if they were entries in an associative array.

answered Jul 30, 2013 at 13:03

MightyPork

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