What is the difference between self::$bar and static::$bar in PHP?

When you use self to refer to a class member, you're referring to the class within which you use the keyword. In this case, your Foo class defines a protected static property called $bar. When you use self in the Foo class to refer to the property, you're referencing the same class.

Therefore if you tried to use self::$bar elsewhere in your Foo class but you had a Bar class with a different value for the property, it would use Foo::$bar instead of Bar::$bar, which may not be what you intend:

class Foo
{
    protected static $bar = 1234;
}

class Bar extends Foo
{
    protected static $bar = 4321;
}

When you call a method via static, you're invoking a feature called late static bindings (introduced in PHP 5.3).

In the above scenario, using self will result in Foo::$bar(1234). And using static will result in Bar::$bar (4321) because with static, the interpreter takes takes into account the redeclaration within the Bar class during runtime.

You typically use late static bindings for methods or even the class itself, rather than properties, as you don't often redeclare properties in subclasses; an example of using the static keyword for invoking a late-bound constructor can be found in this related question: New self vs. new static

However, that doesn't preclude using static with properties as well.

As mentioned one of the main differences is that static allows for late static bindings. One of the most useful scenarios that I found was for creating Base classes for Singleton Classes:

class A { // Base Class
    protected static $name = '';
    protected static function getName() {
        return static::$name;
    }
}
class B extends A {
    protected static $name = 'MyCustomNameB';
}
class C extends A {
    protected static $name = 'MyCustomNameC';
}

echo B::getName(); // MyCustomNameB
echo C::getName(); // MyCustomNameC

Using return static::$name in the Base class will return what was statically attached when it was extended. If you were to use return self::$name then B::getName() would return an empty string as that is what is declared in the Base class.

I have small example showing difference between self and static. Using static:: performs Late Static Binding and thus it binds the variable value from child class.

class A { // Base Class
    protected static $name = 'ClassA';
    public static function getSelfName() {
        return self::$name;
    }
    public static function getStaticName() {
        return static::$name;
    }
}

class B extends A {
    protected static $name = 'ClassB';
}

echo B::getSelfName(); // ClassA
echo B::getStaticName(); // ClassB