Methods

A method is a function defined in a class.

class Person {
  public string $name = "anonymous";

  public function greeting(): string {
    return "Hi, my name is ".$this->name;
  }
}

To call an instance method, use ->.

$p = new Person();
echo $p->greeting();

You can access the current instance with $this inside a method.

Static Methods

A static method is a function in a class that is called without an instance. Since there's no instance, $this is not available.

class Person {
  public static function typicalGreeting(): string {
    return "Hello";
  }
}

To call a static method, use ::.

echo Person::typicalGreeting();