{"id":524,"date":"2021-03-19T07:27:04","date_gmt":"2021-03-19T07:27:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phptutorial.net\/?page_id=524"},"modified":"2025-04-07T11:14:31","modified_gmt":"2025-04-07T11:14:31","slug":"php-destructor","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.phptutorial.net\/php-oop\/php-destructor\/","title":{"rendered":"PHP Destructor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Summary<\/strong>: in this tutorial, you will learn about the PHP destructor and use it to clean up the resources when the object is deleted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id='introduction-to-the-php-destructor'>Introduction to the PHP destructor <a href=\"#introduction-to-the-php-destructor\" class=\"anchor\" id=\"introduction-to-the-php-destructor\" title=\"Anchor for Introduction to the PHP destructor\">#<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Like the <a href=\"https:\/\/phptutorial.net\/php-oop\/php-constructors\/\">constructor<\/a>, PHP allows you to define a destructor for a class using a special method <code>__destruct()<\/code> like this:<\/p>\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\" aria-describedby=\"shcb-language-1\" data-shcb-language-name=\"PHP\" data-shcb-language-slug=\"php\"><span><code class=\"hljs language-php\"><span class=\"hljs-meta\">&lt;?php<\/span>\n\n<span class=\"hljs-class\"><span class=\"hljs-keyword\">class<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-title\">className<\/span>\n<\/span>{\n\t<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">public<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-function\"><span class=\"hljs-keyword\">function<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-title\">__destruct<\/span><span class=\"hljs-params\">()<\/span>\n\t<\/span>{\n\t\t<span class=\"hljs-comment\">\/\/...<\/span>\n\t}\n}<\/code><\/span><small class=\"shcb-language\" id=\"shcb-language-1\"><span class=\"shcb-language__label\">Code language:<\/span> <span class=\"shcb-language__name\">PHP<\/span> <span class=\"shcb-language__paren\">(<\/span><span class=\"shcb-language__slug\">php<\/span><span class=\"shcb-language__paren\">)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n<p>Unlike a constructor, a destructor doesn&#8217;t accept any argument. The destructor is automatically invoked before an object is deleted. It happens when the object has no reference or when the script ends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id='php-destructor-example'>PHP destructor example <a href=\"#php-destructor-example\" class=\"anchor\" id=\"php-destructor-example\" title=\"Anchor for PHP destructor example\">#<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The following simple <code>FileUtil<\/code>&nbsp;class demonstrates how to use the destructor to close a file handle:<\/p>\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\" aria-describedby=\"shcb-language-2\" data-shcb-language-name=\"PHP\" data-shcb-language-slug=\"php\"><span><code class=\"hljs language-php\"><span class=\"hljs-meta\">&lt;?php<\/span>\n\n<span class=\"hljs-class\"><span class=\"hljs-keyword\">class<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-title\">File<\/span>\n<\/span>{\n\t<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">private<\/span> $handle;\n\n\t<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">private<\/span> $filename;\n\n\t<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">public<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-function\"><span class=\"hljs-keyword\">function<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-title\">__construct<\/span><span class=\"hljs-params\">($filename, $mode = <span class=\"hljs-string\">'r'<\/span>)<\/span>\n\t<\/span>{\n\t\t<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">$this<\/span>-&gt;filename = $filename;\n\t\t<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">$this<\/span>-&gt;handle = fopen($filename, $mode);\n\t}\n\n\t<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">public<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-function\"><span class=\"hljs-keyword\">function<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-title\">__destruct<\/span><span class=\"hljs-params\">()<\/span>\n\t<\/span>{\n\t\t<span class=\"hljs-comment\">\/\/ close the filehandle<\/span>\n\t\t<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">if<\/span> (<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">$this<\/span>-&gt;handle) {\n\t\t\tfclose(<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">$this<\/span>-&gt;handle);\n\t\t}\n\t}\n\n\t<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">public<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-function\"><span class=\"hljs-keyword\">function<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-title\">read<\/span><span class=\"hljs-params\">()<\/span>\n\t<\/span>{\n\t\t<span class=\"hljs-comment\">\/\/ read the file contents<\/span>\n\t\t<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">return<\/span> fread(<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">$this<\/span>-&gt;handle, filesize(<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">$this<\/span>-&gt;filename));\n\t}\n}\n\n$f = <span class=\"hljs-keyword\">new<\/span> File(<span class=\"hljs-string\">'.\/test.txt'<\/span>);\n<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">echo<\/span> $f-&gt;read();<\/code><\/span><small class=\"shcb-language\" id=\"shcb-language-2\"><span class=\"shcb-language__label\">Code language:<\/span> <span class=\"shcb-language__name\">PHP<\/span> <span class=\"shcb-language__paren\">(<\/span><span class=\"shcb-language__slug\">php<\/span><span class=\"shcb-language__paren\">)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n<p>How it works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>First, define the <code>File<\/code> class with the constructor that accepts two arguments: <code>$filename<\/code> and <code>$mode<\/code>. By default, the <code>File<\/code> class opens the file for reading.<\/li><li>Second, open the file and assign the file handle to the <code>$handle<\/code> property in the constructor.<\/li><li>Third, close the file handle in the destructor.<\/li><li>Fourth, return the file contents from the <code>read()<\/code> method.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id='summary'>Summary <a href=\"#summary\" class=\"anchor\" id=\"summary\" title=\"Anchor for Summary\">#<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Use the <code>__destruct()<\/code> to define a destructor for a class.<\/li><li>PHP automatically invokes the destructor when the object is deleted or the script is terminated.<\/li><\/ul>\n<div class=\"helpful-block-content\" data-title=\"\">\n\t<header>\n\t\t<div class=\"wth-question\">Did you find this tutorial useful?<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"wth-thumbs\">\n\t\t\t<button\n\t\t\t\tdata-post=\"524\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-post-url=\"https:\/\/www.phptutorial.net\/php-oop\/php-destructor\/\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-post-title=\"PHP Destructor\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-response=\"1\"\n\t\t\t\tclass=\"wth-btn-rounded wth-yes-btn\"\n\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t<svg\n\t\t\t\t\txmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"\n\t\t\t\t\tviewBox=\"0 0 24 24\"\n\t\t\t\t\tfill=\"none\"\n\t\t\t\t\tstroke=\"currentColor\"\n\t\t\t\t\tstroke-width=\"2\"\n\t\t\t\t\tstroke-linecap=\"round\"\n\t\t\t\t\tstroke-linejoin=\"round\"\n\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"feather feather-thumbs-up block w-full h-full\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\t<path\n\t\t\t\t\t\td=\"M14 9V5a3 3 0 0 0-3-3l-4 9v11h11.28a2 2 0 0 0 2-1.7l1.38-9a2 2 0 0 0-2-2.3zM7 22H4a2 2 0 0 1-2-2v-7a2 2 0 0 1 2-2h3\"\n\t\t\t\t\t><\/path>\n\t\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"sr-only\"> Yes <\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/button>\n\n\t\t\t<button\n\t\t\t\tdata-response=\"0\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-post=\"524\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-post-url=\"https:\/\/www.phptutorial.net\/php-oop\/php-destructor\/\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-post-title=\"PHP Destructor\"\n\t\t\t\tclass=\"wth-btn-rounded wth-no-btn\"\n\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t<svg\n\t\t\t\t\txmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"\n\t\t\t\t\tviewBox=\"0 0 24 24\"\n\t\t\t\t\tfill=\"none\"\n\t\t\t\t\tstroke=\"currentColor\"\n\t\t\t\t\tstroke-width=\"2\"\n\t\t\t\t\tstroke-linecap=\"round\"\n\t\t\t\t\tstroke-linejoin=\"round\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\t<path\n\t\t\t\t\t\td=\"M10 15v4a3 3 0 0 0 3 3l4-9V2H5.72a2 2 0 0 0-2 1.7l-1.38 9a2 2 0 0 0 2 2.3zm7-13h2.67A2.31 2.31 0 0 1 22 4v7a2.31 2.31 0 0 1-2.33 2H17\"\n\t\t\t\t\t><\/path>\n\t\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"sr-only\"> No <\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/button>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/header>\n\n\t<div class=\"wth-form hidden\">\n\t\t<div class=\"wth-form-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wth-title\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<textarea class=\"wth-message\"><\/textarea>\n\n\t\t\t<button class=\"btn btn-primary wth-btn-submit\">Send<\/button>\n\t\t\t<button class=\"btn wth-btn-cancel\">Cancel<\/button>\n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this tutorial, you will learn about the PHP destructor and how to use it to clean the resources when the object is deleted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1753,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-524","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phptutorial.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phptutorial.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phptutorial.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phptutorial.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phptutorial.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=524"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.phptutorial.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3222,"href":"https:\/\/www.phptutorial.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/524\/revisions\/3222"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phptutorial.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phptutorial.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}