In this section we will learn about the following topics:

·         What is trait?

·         How to implement trait?

·         Difference between trait and interface

·         Difference between trait and abstract class

·         Benefits of trait

What are traits in PHP?

In real life traits are defined as the movement of characteristics from parent to child .In programming terms, trait is used for code re-usability. As we know PHP is a single inheritance programming language which has a limitation of code re-usability. The main aim of traits is to reduce the limitation of code re-usability in PHP.

A trait in PHP is the group of methods that you want to include within a class. These groups of methods can be re declared in various classes and if you have different classes which uses same methods then you can use these methods to group them and create PHP traits.  Like abstract class, trait cannot be instantiated. Following is an example which shows how it works:

Note: Trait in PHP is introduced in 5.4. before 5.4 version of PHP uses abstract class and interface. Later we will discuss the difference between interface versus trait and abstract class versus trait.

Code implementation:

<?php
trait Myclass    //Myclass is PHP Trait
{
public function my_trait_function()    //Fuction my_trait_function is the function which will be re used by term class
{
echo "This is my First trait function."."</br>";
}
}
class term     // term is the class where trait is used
{
use Myclass;
public function hello()
{
echo "This is class method.";
}
}
$obj = new term();
$obj->my_trait_function();
$obj->hello();
?>

<?php
abstract class My_parent
{
abstract public function text();
}class Child extends My_parent
{
public function text()
{
echo "Hello World!! I am child class";
}
}
$obj = new Child();
$obj->text();

?>

<?php
interface myname
{
public function fname();
}
trait Myclass    //Myclass is PHP Trait
{

public function my_trait_function()    //Fuction my_trait_function is the function which will be re used by term class
{
echo "This is my First trait function."."</br>";
}

}
class term implements myname    // term is the class where trait is used
{
use Myclass;
public function hello()
{
echo "This is class method."."</br>";
}

public function fname()
{
echo "This is an example of interface";  // fname is the function of myname interface
}
}
$obj = new term();
$obj->my_trait_function();
$obj->hello();
$obj->fname();
?>