What potential pitfalls can arise from using constants within a PHP class?

Using constants within a PHP class can lead to inflexibility as constants cannot be changed once they are defined. This can make it difficult to modify the values of constants at runtime or extend the class with different values. To solve this issue, consider using class properties instead of constants if the values need to be modified or extended. 

class MyClass {
    public $myProperty = 'default value';
    
    public function getMyProperty() {
        return $this->myProperty;
    }
}

$instance = new MyClass();
echo $instance->getMyProperty(); // Output: default value

$instance->myProperty = 'new value';
echo $instance->getMyProperty(); // Output: new value

Keywords

constants PHP class scope inheritance redeclaration

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