PHP: Predefined Classes

Predefined Classes

This section lists standard predefined classes. Miscellaneous extensions define other classes which are described in their reference.

Standard Defined Classes

These classes are defined in the standard set of functions included in the PHP build.

Directory: Created by dir().
stdClass: A generic empty class created as a result of typecasting to object or various standard functions.
__PHP_Incomplete_Class: Possibly created by unserialize().
Exception
ErrorException
php_user_filter
Closure: The predefined final class Closure is used for representing anonymous functions.
Generator: The predefined final class Generator is used for representing generators.
ArithmeticError
AssertionError
DivisionByZeroError
Error
Throwable
ParseError
TypeError

Special classes

Following identifiers may not be used as a class name as they have special purpose.

self: Current class.
static: Current class in runtime.
parent: Parent class.

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User Contributed Notes 7 notes

down

wyattstorch42 at outlook dot com ¶

10 years ago

If you call var_export() on an instance of stdClass, it attempts to export it using ::__set_state(), which, for some reason, is not implemented in stdClass.

However, casting an associative array to an object usually produces the same effect (at least, it does in my case). So I wrote an improved_var_export() function to convert instances of stdClass to (object) array () calls. If you choose to export objects of any other class, I'd advise you to implement ::__set_state().

<?php
/**
 * An implementation of var_export() that is compatible with instances
 * of stdClass.
 * @param mixed $variable The variable you want to export
 * @param bool $return If used and set to true, improved_var_export()
 *     will return the variable representation instead of outputting it.
 * @return mixed|null Returns the variable representation when the
 *     return parameter is used and evaluates to TRUE. Otherwise, this
 *     function will return NULL.
 */
function improved_var_export ($variable, $return = false) {
    if ($variable instanceof stdClass) {
        $result = '(object) '.improved_var_export(get_object_vars($variable), true);
    } else if (is_array($variable)) {
        $array = array ();
        foreach ($variable as $key => $value) {
            $array[] = var_export($key, true).' => '.improved_var_export($value, true);
        }
        $result = 'array ('.implode(', ', $array).')';
    } else {
        $result = var_export($variable, true);
    }

    if (!$return) {
        print $result;
        return null;
    } else {
        return $result;
    }
}

// Example usage:
$obj = new stdClass;
$obj->test = 'abc';
$obj->other = 6.2;
$obj->arr = array (1, 2, 3);

improved_var_export((object) array (
    'prop1' => true,
    'prop2' => $obj,
    'assocArray' => array (
        'apple' => 'good',
        'orange' => 'great'
    )
));

/* Output:
(object) array ('prop1' => true, 'prop2' => (object) array ('test' => 'abc', 'other' => 6.2, 'arr' => array (0 => 1, 1 => 2, 2 => 3)), 'assocArray' => array ('apple' => 'good', 'orange' => 'great'))
*/
?>

Note: This function spits out a single line of code, which is useful to save in a cache file to include/eval. It isn't formatted for readability. If you want to print a readable version for debugging purposes, then I would suggest print_r() or var_dump().

down

spark at limao dot com dot br ¶

13 years ago

if you want a Dynamic class you can extend from, add atributes AND methods on the fly you can use this:
<?php
    class Dynamic extends stdClass{
        public function __call($key,$params){
            if(!isset($this->{$key})) throw new Exception("Call to undefined method ".get_class($this)."::".$key."()");
            $subject = $this->{$key};
            call_user_func_array($subject,$params);
        }
    }
?>

this will accept both arrays, strings and Closures:
<?php
    $dynamic->myMethod = "thatFunction";
    $dynamic->hisMethod = array($instance,"aMethod");
    $dynamic->newMethod = array(SomeClass,"staticMethod");
    $dynamic->anotherMethod = function(){
        echo "Hey there";
    };
?>

then call them away =D

down

xzero at elite7hackers dot net ¶

7 years ago

There comes improved version of amazing snippet posted by (spark at limao dot com dot br)  which allows dynamic methods generations and works as versatile extension of StdClass:

This one is faster, optimised for closures, and will work only with closures. Compatible: >= PHP 5.6
<?php

class Dynamic extends \stdClass
{
    public function __call($key, $params)
    {
        if ( ! isset($this->{$key})) {
            throw new Exception("Call to undefined method " . __CLASS__ . "::" . $key . "()");
        }

        return $this->{$key}->__invoke(... $params);
    }
}

?>

Usage examples:

<?php
$dynamic                = new Dynamic();
$dynamic->anotherMethod = function () {
    echo "Hey there";
};
$dynamic->randomInt     = function ($min, $max) {
    return mt_rand($min, $max); // random_int($min, $max); // <-- PHP7+
};

var_dump(
    $dynamic->randomInt(1, 11),
    $dynamic->anotherMethod()
);
?>

This will accept arrays, strings and Closures but is a bit slower due to call_user_func_array
<?php

class Dynamic extends \stdClass
{
    public function __call($key, $params)
    {
        if ( ! isset($this->{$key})) {
            throw new Exception("Call to undefined method " . __CLASS__ . "::" . $key . "()");
        }

        return call_user_func_array($this->{$key}, $params);
    }
}

?>

Usage examples:
<?php
$dynamic                = new Dynamic();
$dynamic->myMethod      = "thatFunction";
$dynamic->hisMethod     = array($dynamic, "randomInt");
$dynamic->newMethod     = array(SomeClass, "staticMethod");
$dynamic->anotherMethod = function () {
    echo "Hey there";
};
$dynamic->randomInt     = function ($min, $max) {
    return mt_rand($min, $max); // random_int($min, $max); // <-- PHP7+
};

var_dump(
    $dynamic->randomInt(1, 11),
    $dynamic->anotherMethod(),
    $dynamic->hisMethod()
);

?>

down

unknown ¶

22 years ago

It's handy to have a array of the reserved classes.....

var_dump (get_declared_classes ());

down

Ashley Dambra ¶

10 years ago

Here a simple class that allow to set anonymous function. It's an optimised class of stdClass.

<?php
class stdObject {
    public function __construct(array $arguments = array()) {
        if (!empty($arguments)) {
            foreach ($arguments as $property => $argument) {
                if ($argument instanceOf Closure) {
                    $this->{$property} = $argument;
                } else {
                    $this->{$property} = $argument;
                }
            }
        }
    }

    public function __call($method, $arguments) {
        if (isset($this->{$method}) && is_callable($this->{$method})) {
            return call_user_func_array($this->{$method}, $arguments);
        } else {
            throw new Exception("Fatal error: Call to undefined method stdObject::{$method}()");
        }
    }
}

$person = new stdObject(array(
    "name" => "nick",
    "age" => 23,
    "friends" => array("frank", "sally", "aaron"),
    "sayHi" => function() {
        return "Hello there";
    }
));

$person->sayHi2 = function() {
    return "Hello there 2";
};

$person->test = function() {
    return "test";
};

var_dump($person->name, $person->test(), $person->sayHi2());
?>

down

xzero at elite7hackers dot net ¶

7 years ago

There comes improved version of amazing snippet posted by which allows dynamic methods generations and works as versatile extension of StdClass:

This one is faster, optimised for closures, and will work only with closures. Compatible: >= PHP 5.6
<?php

class Dynamic extends \stdClass
{
    public function __call($key, $params)
    {
        if ( ! isset($this->{$key})) {
            throw new Exception("Call to undefined method " . __CLASS__ . "::" . $key . "()");
        }

        return $this->{$key}->__invoke(... $params);
    }
}

?>

Usage examples:

<?php
$dynamic                = new Dynamic();
$dynamic->anotherMethod = function () {
    echo "Hey there";
};
$dynamic->randomInt     = function ($min, $max) {
    return mt_rand($min, $max); // random_int($min, $max); // <-- PHP7+
};

var_dump(
    $dynamic->randomInt(1, 11),
    $dynamic->anotherMethod()
);
?>

This will accept arrays, strings and Closures but is a bit slower due to call_user_func_array
<?php

class Dynamic extends \stdClass
{
    public function __call($key, $params)
    {
        if ( ! isset($this->{$key})) {
            throw new Exception("Call to undefined method " . __CLASS__ . "::" . $key . "()");
        }

        return call_user_func_array($this->{$key}, $params);
    }
}

?>

Usage examples:
<?php
$dynamic                = new Dynamic();
$dynamic->myMethod      = "thatFunction";
$dynamic->hisMethod     = array($dynamic, "randomInt");
$dynamic->newMethod     = array(SomeClass, "staticMethod");
$dynamic->anotherMethod = function () {
    echo "Hey there";
};
$dynamic->randomInt     = function ($min, $max) {
    return mt_rand($min, $max); // random_int($min, $max); // <-- PHP7+
};

var_dump(
    $dynamic->randomInt(1, 11),
    $dynamic->anotherMethod(),
    $dynamic->hisMethod()
);

?>

down

-6

Typer85 at gmail dot com ¶

17 years ago

In response to the note below mine,

This list is not incomplete. Read the Manual folks, its listed there plain and simple:

"This section lists standard predefined classes. Miscellaneous extensions define other classes which are described in their reference."

Depending on what extensions you have, they might define their own classes. This list is just the standard classes as defined by PHP with no regards to extensions.

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