If else statement syntax issue in PHP class

Question

I am making a class to check for holidays. I made functions for specific holidays and an overarching function to see if a date is a holiday, not one in particular.

I am getting the following error:

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected 'else' (T_ELSE) in C:\xampp\htdocs\mgmt\classes\Holidays.php on line 52

Here is my code:

<?php
class Holidays {

    //private member variables
    private $date;

    //constructors
    public function Holidays() {
        $this->$date = date("Y-m-d");
    }

    //setters
    public function setDate($date) {
        $this->$date = $date;
    }

    //getters
    public function getDate() {
        return $this->$date;
    }

    //member public functions
    public function isNewYears($date) {
        return ($date == date('Y', $date)."-01-01" ? true : false);
    }
    public function isMLKDay($date) {
        return ($date == date("Y-m-d", strtotime("third Monday of January ".date('Y', $date)) ? true : false));
    }
    public function isValentinesDay($date) {
        return ($date == date('Y', $date)."-02-14" ? true : false);
    }
    public function isPresidentsDay($date) {
        return ($date == date("Y-m-d", strtotime("third Monday of February ".date('Y', $date)) ? true : false));
    }
    public function isEaster($date) {
        return ($date == date("Y-m-d", easter_date($date)) ? true : false);
    }
    public function isMemorialDay($date) {
        return ($date == date("Y-m-d", strtotime("last Monday of May ".date('Y', $date)) ? true : false));
    }
    public function isLaborDay($date) {
        return ($date == date("Y-m-d", strtotime("first Monday of September ".date('Y', $date)) ? true : false));
    }
    public function isThanksgiving($date) {
        return ($date == date("Y-m-d", strtotime("fourth Thursday in November".date('Y', $date)) ? true : false));
    }
    public function isChristmas($date) {
        return ($date == date('Y', $date)."-12-25" ? true : false);
    }   
    public function isHoliday($date) {
        if (isNewYears($date))
        else if (isMLKDay($date))
        else if (isValentinesDay($date))
        else if (isPresidentsDay($date))
        else if (isEaster($date))
        else if (isMemorialDay($date))
        else if (isLaborDay($date))
        else if (isThanksgiving($date))
        else if (isChristmas($date))
        else return false;
    }
}
?>

It's throwing the error on the first else statement in isHoliday(). If that's not the proper structure then how should I do it?

PHP thinks your else if statements have no bodies - and they don't. For clarify (and avoiding syntactic pitfalls) you should always use braces with if statements. — Darragh Enright
– Darragh Enright, Commented Apr 6, 2014 at 23:46

AlanFoster · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-07 00:10:17Z

3

You are trying to do a logical or, which can be represented using ||

public function isHoliday($date) {
    return $this->isNewYears($date)
        || $this->isMLKDay($date)
        || $this->isValentinesDay($date)
        || $this->isPresidentsDay($date)
        || $this->isEaster($date)
        || $this->isMemorialDay($date)
        || $this->isLaborDay($date)
        || $this->isThanksgiving($date)
        || $this->isChristmas($date);
}

You can also remove the if/else, and simply return the result of the boolean expression itself.

Edit - There are additional errors with your posted code -

Constructor should use $this->date, not $this->$date

public function Holidays() {
    $this->date = date("Y-m-d");
}

Further to the above, if you ever need the current instantiated value of $date, then you should use the notation

 $this->date

The function easter_date does not exist

public function isEaster($date) {
    return ($date == date("Y-m-d", easter_date($date)) ? true : false);
}

After you have fixed this issues, you should be able to use it as -

$holidays = new Holidays();
$isHoliday = $holidays->isHoliday(date("Y-m-d"));
if($isHoliday) {
  echo "Today is a holiday!";
} else {
  echo "Today is not a holiday! :(";
}

As your functions all seem to be helpers, it might be suggested to look at static functions in php instead :)

edited Apr 7, 2014 at 0:10

answered Apr 6, 2014 at 23:48

AlanFoster

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6 Comments

Mihai Stancu Over a year ago

This is probably a good tip but it should be a comment not an answer.

Burning Hippo Over a year ago

Got this error: atal error: Call to undefined function isNewYears() in C:\xampp\htdocs\mgmt\classes\Holidays.php on line 51

AlanFoster Over a year ago

Apologies, forgot the prefix of $this-> to function calls

AlanFoster Over a year ago

I have added some additional comments about further issues I have noticed, hopefully it helps :)

Burning Hippo Over a year ago

Thanks. Can you elaborate on why they should be static? I am really unfamiliar with them. I read a couple of articles but am still not really getting it.

|

Niet the Dark Absol · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-06 23:46:28Z

1

You kind of need a statement to execute when the if passes...

if( isNewYears($date)) do_something_here();
else...

answered Apr 6, 2014 at 23:46

Niet the Dark Absol

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3 Comments

AlanFoster Over a year ago

I don't believe this is a suitable answer, as there is nothing useful that could be done within the expression blocks other than 'return true'

Burning Hippo Over a year ago

Yours is the correct answer, @AlanFoster. I will mark it as such when StackOverflow allows.

Mihai Stancu Over a year ago

The answer is "half correct" -- the solution is not to add something to be executed there... but to add a semicolon after the if which means nothing needs to be executed.

r3wt · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-06 23:53:18Z

1

EDIT: Disregard my answer. Alan Foster's is better and should be the accepted answer IMO. Try:

public function isHoliday($date) {
    $this->date = $date;
    if (
        $this->date->isNewYears($date)
        ||
        $this->date->isMLKDay($date)
        ||
        $this->date->isValentinesDay($date)
        ||
        $this->date->isPresidentsDay($date)
        ||
        $this->date->isEaster($date)
        ||
        $this->date->isMemorialDay($date)
        ||
        $this->date->isLaborDay($date)
        ||
        $this->date->isThanksgiving($date)
        ||
        $this->date->isChristmas($date)
    ) 
    { 
        return true; 
    }else{
        return false;
    }
}

answered Apr 6, 2014 at 23:53

r3wt

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2 Comments

Burning Hippo Over a year ago

could you elaborate on $this->$date for me? I was under the impression this meant the variable passed in. It seems as though in PHP it refers to the class member variable?

r3wt Over a year ago

I am going to remove my answer as AlanFoster's is actually correct, since the functions return booleans already. $this->date is an alias of $date, but only available inside the function unless you call it at the top of the class, like public $date = NULL; would let you pass the same date to any function(as $this->date)

Jayesh Chandrapal · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-06 23:57:22Z

1

This fixed the error. If you don't need any code, leave it like this, otherwise in specific sections you can write your code:

public function isHoliday($date) {
    if (isNewYears($date)) {}
    else if (isMLKDay($date)) {}
    else if (isValentinesDay($date)) {}
    else if (isPresidentsDay($date)) {}
    else if (isEaster($date)) {}
    else if (isMemorialDay($date)) {}
    else if (isLaborDay($date)) {}
    else if (isThanksgiving($date)) {}
    else if (isChristmas($date)) {}
    else return false;
}

answered Apr 6, 2014 at 23:57

Jayesh Chandrapal

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