How to refer to a static constant member variable in PHP

class, php, syntax, variables

Solution

For brevity sake I will only offer the php 5 version:

class Example
{
    // Class Constant
    const APPLE = 'red';

    // Private static member
    private static $apple;

    public function __construct()
    {
        print self::APPLE . "\n";
        self::$apple = 'red';
    }
}

Problem

I have a class with member variables. What is the syntax in PHP to access the member variables from within the class when the class is being called from a static context? Basically I want to call a class method (but not create a new object), but when the class method is called, I want a handful of static constant variables to be initialized that need to be shared among the different class methods. OR if there's a better way to do it then what I'm proposing, please share with me (I'm new to PHP) Thanks! eg. ``` class example { var $apple; function example()//constructor { example::apple = "red" //this throws a parse error } } ```

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