What's new in PHP 8

Before PHP 8.4, if a property was public, anyone could both read and modify it. If you wanted a property to be publicly readable but privately modifiable, you had to make it private and expose a public getter method. PHP 8.4 introduces asymmetric visibility, allowing you to set separate access levels for reading and writing a property.

PHP 8.4 Example

class Order
{
    // Publicly readable, but only writable within the class
    public private(set) string $status = 'pending';

    public function complete(): void
    {
        $this->status = 'completed';
    }
}

$order = new Order();
echo $order->status; // Works: 'pending'
// $order->status = 'canceled'; // Throws Fatal Error: Cannot modify private(set) property

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