What are the potential pitfalls of using private methods in PHP classes when it comes to inheritance and method overriding?

Using private methods in PHP classes can be problematic when it comes to inheritance and method overriding because private methods are not accessible to child classes. To solve this issue, you can make use of protected methods instead of private methods. Protected methods can be accessed by child classes, allowing for method overriding and inheritance to work as expected. 

class ParentClass {
    protected function myProtectedMethod() {
        echo "This is a protected method in the parent class.";
    }
}

class ChildClass extends ParentClass {
    public function myProtectedMethod() {
        echo "This is an overridden method in the child class.";
    }
}

$child = new ChildClass();
$child->myProtectedMethod(); // Output: This is an overridden method in the child class.

Keywords

private methods PHP classes inheritance method overriding pitfalls

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