Does PHP have keyword or feature that shortens repetition like jquery $(this)?

Question

Does PHP have keyword or feature that shortens code and repetition like jquery $(this)?

For example

// How to avoid typing same variable twice
echo isset($_POST['foo']) ? $_POST['foo'] : '';

In Jquery

<script>
    // Avoid typing $("#button-element") again
    $("#button-element").click(function() {
        $(this).css("border-color", "#000");
    });
</script>

But PHP is not built off ECMAScript...? If you want to avoid repetition, use the [null coalesce operator](https://wiki.php.net/rfc/isset_ternary), i.e. `echo $_POST['foo'] ?? '';`, but that's only in PHP 7. — Terry, Aug 12 '17 at 22:22
your `this` right now, is treated as a constant, just so you know "this" ;-) You're probably looking for an (PHP) OOP `$this` but it's hard to say really what you're trying to achieve here. — Funk Forty Niner, Aug 12 '17 at 22:24
Have you tried to research your question before asking it on here? I'm sure something would be on google.... if not then that's also a sign of "no". I don't really understand what you wish to achieve or the real purpose... — NewToJS, Aug 12 '17 at 22:24
@Fred -ii- Asking to see if there is a shorter way of accessing the same variable, instead of typing the same variable over again. — Goldbug, Aug 12 '17 at 22:27
In PHP7 you can `echo $_POST['foo'] ?? 'bar';`. Way cooler. For google: `Null coalescing operator` — jh1711, Aug 12 '17 at 22:29
@Goldbug The question is unclear for me, sorry. See if the answer(s) given solves it. — Funk Forty Niner, Aug 12 '17 at 22:29
`$var = "foo"; echo isset($_POST['foo']) ? $var : '';` maybe? Is that what you're after? — Funk Forty Niner, Aug 12 '17 at 22:31
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1523479/what-does-the-variable-this-mean-in-php#1523484 See there! — btc4cash, Aug 12 '17 at 22:32
You appear to have a significantly distorted understanding of the `this` variable in JavaScript. You should probably read quite a bit on it, at a minimum, [How does the "this" keyword work?](https://stackoverflow.com/q/3127429) — Makyen, Aug 13 '17 at 00:33

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 12 '17 at 22:27

2

No. And that code wouldn't work in JS either.

In JS, this is -- roughly speaking -- the object that the current function was called as a method on. It is not "the last thing I mentioned". The JS equivalent of your second code:

_POST['foo'] ? this : ''

would return an object if _POST['foo'] were set. It would not return the value of _POST['foo'].

There is no variable like the one you're looking for in any language I've ever used.

answered Aug 12 '17 at 22:27

"the object that the current function was called as a method on" It's same in PHP if I'm not wrong – btc4cash Aug 12 '17 at 22:30
1

@btc4cash PHP's `$this` is roughly similar to JS `this`, but the JS `this` has a lot of weird edge cases which don't apply to PHP. – Aug 12 '17 at 22:44

cpugourou · Answer 2 · 2017-08-12T23:18:09.517

of course it does! you need to construct this across a class. It works about the same as in javascript ES6 class.

$number = 4;
$This = new demoThis($number);
$This->multiplyThis(4);

class demoThis {

private $number;
private $factor;
public $result;

    public function __construct($number) {
        $this->number = $number;
    }

    function multiplyThis($factor) {
        $this->factor = $factor;
        $this->result = $this->number * $this->factor;
        return $this->result;
    }
}

echo isset($_POST['foo']) ? $This->result : '';

Does PHP have keyword or feature that shortens repetition like jquery $(this)?

2 Answers2