1.2.1295. Unused Private Methods

Private methods that are not used in the local class are dead code. Protected methods that are not used in the local class or its children, are dead code.

Private methods are reserved for the defining class. Thus, they must be used with the current class, with $this or self\:\:.

Protected methods, in a standalone class, are also included. This analysis skips classes that makes self dynamic calls, such as $this->$method().

<?php

class Foo {
    // Those methods are used
    private function method() {}
    private static function staticMethod() {}

    // Those methods are not used
    private function unusedMethod() {}
    private static function staticUnusedMethod() {}

    public function bar() {
        self::staticMethod();
        $this->method();
    }
}

?>

1.2.1295.1. Suggestions

  • Remove the private method, as it is unused

  • Add a call to this private method

  • Change method visibility to make it available to other classes

1.2.1295.2. Specs

Short name

Classes/UnusedPrivateMethod

Rulesets

All, Changed Behavior, Dead code

Exakat since

0.8.4

PHP Version

All

Severity

Minor

Time To Fix

Quick (30 mins)

Precision

Very high

Features

visibility

Related rule

Unused Public Methods

Available in

Entreprise Edition, Exakat Cloud