Method Chaining in OOP in PHP

It is possible to make methods callable one after another in a chain. For this, each such method must return $this. Let's try it. Let's add the corresponding code to the setters of our class:

php<?php
  class User {
    private $name;
    private $surn;
  
    public function setName($name) {
      $this->name = $name;
      return $this;
    }
    
    public function setSurn($surn) {
      $this->surn = $surn;
      return $this;
    }
    
    public function getName() {
      return $this->name;
    }
    
    public function getSurn() {
      return $this->surn;
    }
  }
?>

Now our setters can be called one after another, in a chain. Let's test it. Let's create an object of our class:

php<?php
  $user = new User();
?>

Let's call our setters in a chain:

php<?php
  $user->setName('john')->setSurn('smit');
?>

Let's check that the property values have changed:

php<?php
  echo $user->getName();
  echo $user->getSurn();
?>