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This tutorial uses Symfony 3, but all the concepts around PHP 7 are still ?valid.

> OOP > PHP 7: The Important Stuff
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04.

Nullable Types

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Let's try an experiment: In GenusController, change our var_dump() to $genus->getFunFact(): another property on Genus that should be a string. If you refresh now... it's null! No surprise: we haven't set this yet and that method doesn't have a return type.

156 lines | src/AppBundle/Controller/GenusController.php
<?php
declare(strict_types = 1);
// ... line 3
namespace AppBundle\Controller;
// ... lines 5 - 15
class GenusController extends Controller
{
// ... lines 18 - 20
public function typesExampleAction()
{
// ... lines 23 - 25
var_dump($genus->getFunFact());
// ... line 27
}
// ... lines 29 - 154
}

Now, add one: : string. Refresh again.

224 lines | src/AppBundle/Entity/Genus.php
<?php
declare(strict_types = 1);
// ... line 3
namespace AppBundle\Entity;
// ... lines 5 - 17
class Genus
{
// ... lines 20 - 130
public function getFunFact(): string
{
return $this->funFact;
}
// ... lines 135 - 222
}

Explosion! This method returns null... which apparently is not a string. This actually made return types a pain in PHP 7... so in PHP 7.1, they fixed it! With "nullable" types. It works like this: if a return type can be null, add a ? in front of the type.

224 lines | src/AppBundle/Entity/Genus.php
// ... lines 1 - 17
class Genus
{
// ... lines 20 - 130
public function getFunFact(): ?string
{
return $this->funFact;
}
// ... lines 135 - 222
}

Yep, this method can return a string or null. And once again, life is good!

Nullable Type Arguments

Let's go further! In the controller, add $genus->setFunFact('This is fun') then var_dump($genus->getFunFact()). After, do $genus->setFunFact(null)... because null should be allowed.

160 lines | src/AppBundle/Controller/GenusController.php
<?php
declare(strict_types = 1);
// ... line 3
namespace AppBundle\Controller;
// ... lines 5 - 15
class GenusController extends Controller
{
// ... lines 18 - 20
public function typesExampleAction()
{
// ... lines 23 - 25
$genus->setFunFact('This is fun');
var_dump($genus->getFunFact());
// ... line 28
$genus->setFunFact(null);
// ... lines 30 - 31
}
// ... lines 33 - 158
}

Will this work? Totally! It prints the string, then it prints null. Unless... you type-hint the argument. Right now the argument to setFunFact() can be anything. Add the string type-hint.

224 lines | src/AppBundle/Entity/Genus.php
<?php
// ... lines 2 - 3
namespace AppBundle\Entity;
// ... lines 5 - 17
class Genus
{
// ... lines 20 - 135
public function setFunFact(string $funFact)
{
$this->funFact = $funFact;
}
// ... lines 140 - 222
}

No problem, right? Refresh! Ah! The first dump works, but setFunFact(null) fails. Duh, null is not a string.

With scalar type-hints, we suddenly need to think about things that were never a problem before. That's mostly good, but it's a bit more work. To make this argument nullable, add that same ? before the type. Without this, passing `null` as an argument is illegal... in both strict and weak modes.

226 lines | src/AppBundle/Entity/Genus.php
<?php
declare(strict_types = 1);
// ... line 3
namespace AppBundle\Entity;
// ... lines 5 - 17
class Genus
{
// ... lines 20 - 135
public function setFunFact(?string $funFact): void
{
// ... lines 138 - 140
}
// ... lines 142 - 224
}

Refresh again. Beautiful!

?string versus string = null

Now, you might be thinking:

Wait, wait wait. How is ?string different than string $funFact = null?

Hmm, good question! Because if I say string $funFact = null, that does allow a null value to be passed. In reality, these two syntaxes are almost the same. The difference is that when you default the argument to null, I'm allowed to call setFunFact() without any arguments: the argument is optional.

But with the nullable, ?string syntax, the argument is still required... it's simply that null is a valid value. That makes ?string better... unless you actually want the argument to be optional.

And by the way, the nullable ? works for any type, like classes. We'll see that in action next!