PHP null-safe operator ?-> with null coalescing for safe property chains

PHP Dasun Kalupahana October 15, 2026 89 views

<?php

class Address { public function __construct(public ?string $city = null) {} }
class User { public function __construct(public ?Address $address = null) {} }

$users = [new User(new Address('Paris')), new User(), null];

foreach ($users as $u) {
    echo $u?->address?->city ?? 'Unknown', PHP_EOL;
}
// Paris
// Unknown
// Unknown

?-> stops the whole chain and returns null when any link is null, so you don’t need nested if checks. Add ?? for a default value. Needs PHP 8.0+.

#php #php8 #nullsafe-operator #null-coalescing #clean-code