PHP 7: Real World Application Development

Using traits

If you have ever done any C programming, you are perhaps familiar with macros. A macro is a predefined block of code that expands at the line indicated. In a similar manner, traits can contain blocks of code that are copied and pasted into a class at the line indicated by the PHP interpreter.

How to do it...

1. Traits are identified with the keyword trait, and can contain properties and/or methods. You may have noticed duplication of code when examining the previous recipe featuring the CountryList and CustomerList classes. In this example, we will re-factor the two classes, and move the functionality of the list() method into a Trait. Notice that the list() method is the same in both classes.
2. Traits are used in situations where there is ...