What is Constructor in PHP

Constructor in PHP is declared with __construct() function uing double underscore.
When we define a class, we declare individual set methods to access the particular property of that class but if we initialize a constructor inside the parent class, then no need to include set methods.
It helps us to reduce the number of set methods to declare for each public property of the class.
PHP will automatically call the __construct() function as soon as the creation of the object of the parent class.
It refers to the current object of your parent class.
Also, we can create multiple objects of the parent class and access the properties passed inside the construct function with the help of each created object.
We don’t need to initialize functions every time we declare public properties. Instead, we can use the constructor to do the same. So, the constructor is very userful in such cases.
The constructor plays an important role in obeject-oriented programming. If you want to make your code easy and simple then you can use a constructor.
We can pass the public properties of a class inside the __construct() function one by one as shown below.

Also read, OOPS concepts in PHP with real-time examples

With Constructor

<?php
class Car {
  // Properties
  public $name;
  public $color;

  function __construct($name,$color){
    $this->name = $name;
    $this->color = $color;
  }
}
?>

Without Constructor

<?php
class Car {
  // Properties
  public $name;
  public $color;

  // Methods
  function set_name($name) {
    $this->name = $name;
  }
  function set_color($color){
    $this->color = $color;
  }
}
?>

Example to display the name and color of the car class

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>

<?php
class Car {
  // Properties
  public $name;
  public $color;

  function __construct($name,$color){
    $this->name = $name;
    $this->color = $color;
  }

  // Methods
  function get_name() {
    return $this->name;
  }
  function get_color(){
    return $this->color;
  }
}

//create a new object 
$first_car = new Car("Maruti","Red");
echo "The name of the car is: ".$first_car->get_name();
echo "<br>";
echo "The color of the car is: ".$first_car->get_color();

?>
 
</body>
</html>

Output:-
The name of the car is: Maruti The color of the car is: Red

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Conclusion:- I hope this tutorial will help you to understand the overview of the constructor in PHP. If there is any doubt then please leave a comment below.

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