Learn PHP basics with hands-on practice in hello world in PHP, variables in PHP, functions in PHP, arrays in PHP, PHP inheritance, PHP exceptions, and more.

This interactive course introduces you to the fundamentals of PHP programming, one of the most widely used languages in web development. Starting with a simple hello world in PHP, you’ll explore the basics, including PHP output, variables in PHP, and PHP data types. You’ll also learn about PHP constants, arithmetic operators, comparison operators, logical operators, and assignment operators.

The course progresses into conditional statements in PHP, PHP switch, and various loops such as PHP for loop, PHP while loop, and more. You will then dive deeper into functions in PHP, understand PHP variable scope, and learn PHP pass by reference or value. Additionally, you’ll gain a working knowledge of strings in PHP, PHP string operations, and handling arrays in PHP, including PHP multidimensional arrays.

In the advanced sections, you’ll explore classes in PHP, inheritance, constructors, and destructors, handling PHP exceptions with PHP throw and catch exceptions.

Learn PHP

# $this

The pseudo-variable `$this` refers to a member of a class according to an instance of that class. It provides a reference to the calling object, that is the object to which the method or property belongs to. Note that the member of the class must be non-static.

## The Object Operator
The `->` symbol is a built-in construct in PHP that is used with the `$this` keyword to access contained **methods** and **properties**.

# self
In PHP, like many other languages, the `self` keyword refers to properties and methods inside the scope of a class. This pseudo-variable provides a reference to the calling object, that is the object to which the method or property belongs to.

## The Scope Resolution Operator
The `::` symbol, known as the *scope resolution operator* is an in-built construct in PHP that is used to access contained **methods** and **properties**. It is used with the `self` keyword.

> ## this versus self
> * Use `$this->member` for accessing *non-static* members (methods and properties). 
> * Use `self::$member` for accessing [static](http://php.net/manual/en/language.oop5.static.php) members (methods and properties).

# Example
Run the code below to see how you can use `$this` and `self` in PHP.


# $this

The pseudo-variable `＄this` refers to a member of a class according to an instance of that class. It provides a reference to the calling object, that is the object to which the method or property belongs to. Note that the member of the class must be non-static.

## The Object Operator
The `->` symbol is a built-in construct in PHP that is used with the `＄this` keyword to access contained **methods** and **properties**.

# self
In PHP, like many other languages, the `self` keyword refers to properties and methods inside the scope of a class. This pseudo-variable provides a reference to the calling object, that is the object to which the method or property belongs to.

## The Scope Resolution Operator
The `::` symbol, known as the *scope resolution operator* is an in-built construct in PHP that is used to access contained **methods** and **properties**. It is used with the `self` keyword.

> ## this versus self
> * Use `＄this->member` for accessing *non-static* members (methods and properties). 
> * Use `self::＄member` for accessing [static](http://php.net/manual/en/language.oop5.static.php) members (methods and properties).

# Example
Run the code below to see how you can use `＄this` and `self` in PHP.


This lesson discusses the use of this and self in accessing members in classes.

PHP Basics

PHP Variables

PHP Operators

PHP Conditional Statements

PHP Loops

PHP Functions

PHP Strings

PHP Arrays

PHP Assessment 1

PHP Classes

Exception Handling in PHP

PHP Assessment 2

$this and self

$this

The Object Operator