When to use $this->property instead of $property in PHP

Question

Super easy question. Look at the 2 sample class methods.

In the first One I pass in a variable/property call $params I then do $this->params

Answer 1

You have already answered your question yourself:

You have to set it like $this->params if you need to access that property in a different method in that class and you can use just $params if you are only using that property in that same method it is in already