From PHP 8, you are able to use the null safe operator which combined with the null coalescing operator allows you to write code like:

echo $data->getMyObject()?->getName() ?? '';

By using ?-> instead of -> the chain of operators is terminated and the result will be null.

The operators that "look inside an object" are considered part of the chain.

• Array access ([])
• Property access (->)
• Nullsafe property access (?->)
• Static property access (::)
• Method call (->)
• Nullsafe method call (?->)
• Static method call (::)

e.g. for the code:

$string = $data?->getObject()->getName() . " after";

if $data is null, that code would be equivalent to:

$string = null . " after";

As the string concatenation operator is not part of the 'chain' and so isn't short-circuited.

To emulate null safe operator, you can take inspiration from the option type. The idea is simple - you wrap the value in an object, as you suggested, and have a magic method handling. Now, the magic method will either return $this - e.g. the same Option instance, if this is already a null, or call the method and wrap the result in an Option, to allow further chaining.

The challenge you face with PHP will be where to terminate, e.g. where to return the original value, and not the wrapper. If you can afford an explicit method call at the end of the chain, it becomes straightforward.

It would look something like (not tested, written for illustrative purposes)

class Option {
    protected $value;

    public function __construct($value)
    {
        $this->value = $value;
    }

    public function __call($methodName, $args) {
        if (is_null($this->value)) {
            return $this;
        }
        return new Option($this->value->$methodName($args));
    }

    public function __get($propertyName) {
        if (is_null($this->value)) {
            return $this;
        }
        return new Option($this->value->$propertyName);
    }

    public function get() {
        return $this->value;
    }
}

So you will do:

$country = new Option($session)->user->getAddress()->country->get();