Check if an object has a property in PHP

You can check whether a PHP object has a property or not by using the property_exists() function.

The property_exists() function can be used to check whether a property exists in a class or an object. The syntax is as follows:

property_exists(
    object|string $object_or_class,
    string $property
): bool

You need to pass two things:

1. The object or class as the first argument
2. The property in string as the second argument

Here’s an example of calling the function:

<?php
class Car {
    public $type;
    private $color;
}

// 👇 check class property
var_dump(property_exists("Car", "type")); // true

// 👇 check object property
var_dump(property_exists(new Car(), "color")); // true

// 👇 instantiate the object first
$car = new Car();
var_dump(property_exists($car, "wheels")); // false
?>

When checking the property of a class, you pass the class name as a string. When checking an object, you need to pass the object instance.

By passing the property name as a string as shown above, the property_exists() function will check whether the property exists in the given class name or object.

Now you’ve learned how to check if an object has a certain property in PHP. Great!