Happy Coders

Static methods belong to the class itself and can be called without creating an object. They are declared using the static keyword. Inside the class, use self::method() to call them. Static methods are ideal for utility functions and helpers that don’t rely on object properties. They cannot use $this because there’s no instance context.

1. Basic Static Method Example

class MathHelper {
    public static function add($a, $b) {
        return $a + $b;
    }
}

echo MathHelper::add(5, 3); // Output: 8

File: static_basic.php

2. Accessing Static Methods Inside Class

class Greeting {
    public static function sayHello() {
        return "Hello!";
    }

    public function callHello() {
        return self::sayHello(); // Use self:: inside class
    }
}

$obj = new Greeting();
echo $obj->callHello(); // Output: Hello!

File: static_inside_class.php

3. Static Methods in Inheritance

class ParentClass {
    public static function welcome() {
        return "Welcome from parent!";
    }
}

class ChildClass extends ParentClass {}

echo ChildClass::welcome(); // Output: Welcome from parent!

File: static_inheritance.php

4. Key Features of Static Methods