How to "hide" private variable in PHP class

Question

I might not have a good understanding of this, but since the "username" variable is private. Shouldn't this not be a part of the return? How do I make it so the $username is private and not outputed, but the public member is?

class MyClass 
{
    private $username = "api";


    public function create_issue()
    {
        $this->public = "Joe";
        return $this;
    }

}

$test = new MyClass();
$test->create_issue();

var_dump($test);

class MyClass#1 (2) {
  private $username =>
  string(3) "api"
  public $public =>
  string(3) "Joe"
}

Answer 1

I have understood your concern. First of all, let me discuss about the variable scope private. private variable is private in the current class. If you use the class in another class private variable will not work. So, you have to use an another class to protect your private variable.

<?php

class MyClassProtected 
{
    private $username = "api";
    public function doSomething(){   
    // write code using private variable
   }

}


class MyClass
{   
    public function create_issue()

    {
       $test = new MyClassProtected();
       $test -> doSomething();
       return $this->public = "Joe";
    }
}


$test = new MyClass();
$test->create_issue();
var_dump($test);

?>