call_user_method
If you want to combat many class includes effectively, define your own autoloader function and spl_autoload_register() that autoloader.
class_exists
(PHP 4, PHP 5)
class_exists — Checks if the class has been defined
Description
bool class_exists
( string $class_name
[, bool $autoload
] )
This function checks whether or not the given class has been defined.
Parameters
- class_name
-
The class name. The name is matched in a case-insensitive manner.
- autoload
-
Whether or not to call __autoload by default. Defaults to TRUE.
Return Values
Returns TRUE if class_name is a defined class, FALSE otherwise.
ChangeLog
| Version | Description |
|---|---|
| 5.0.2 | No longer returns TRUE for defined interfaces. Use interface_exists(). |
| 5.0.0 | The autoload parameter was added. |
Examples
Example #1 class_exists() example
<?php
// Check that the class exists before trying to use it
if (class_exists('MyClass')) {
$myclass = new MyClass();
}
?>
Example #2 autoload parameter example
<?php
function __autoload($class)
{
include($class . '.php');
// Check to see whether the include declared the class
if (!class_exists($class, false)) {
trigger_error("Unable to load class: $class", E_USER_WARNING);
}
}
if (class_exists('MyClass')) {
$myclass = new MyClass();
}
?>
add a note
User Contributed Notesclass_exists
Radek @ cz
06-May-2008 02:43
06-May-2008 02:43
richard at richard-sumilang dot com
27-Mar-2008 08:56
27-Mar-2008 08:56
[ >= PHP 5.3]
If you are checking if a class exists that is in a specific namespace then you have to pass in the full path to the class:
echo (class_exists("com::richardsumilang::common::MyClass")) ? "Yes" : "No";
Frayja
01-Jun-2006 09:42
01-Jun-2006 09:42
Like someone else pointed out class_exists() is case-INsensitive.
Using in_array() which is case-sensitive, the following function is a case-sensitive version of class_exists().
<?php
function class_exists_sensitive( $classname )
{
return ( class_exists( $classname ) && in_array( $classname, get_declared_classes() ) );
}
?>
06-Apr-2004 01:04
Just a note that at least PHP 4.3.1 seems to crash under some situations if you call class_exists($foo) where $foo is an array (that is, the calling code is incorrect but the error recovery is far from perfect).
anonymous at somewhere dot tld
17-Jul-2003 08:20
17-Jul-2003 08:20
If you have a directory of classes you want to create. (Modules in my instance)... you can do it like that
<?php
if (is_dir($this->MODULE_PATH) && $dh = opendir($this->MODULE_PATH)) {
while (($file = readdir($dh)) !== false) {
if (preg_match("/(Mod[a-zA-Z0-9]+).php/", $file, $matches)>0) {
// include and create the class
require_once($this->MODULE_PATH."/".$file);
$modules[] = new $matches[1]();
}
}
} else {
exit;
}
?>
//---
Here the rule is that all modules are on the form
ModModulename.php and that the class has the same name as the file.
The $modules array has all the classes initialized after this code
cristiano at aspatech dot com dot br
24-Jun-2002 07:36
24-Jun-2002 07:36
This can be veeeery usefull if you use classes that uses other classes, which can be used in your front end. In other words, when you lost the control of which classes are declared in which point of the application, that can generate the "Cannot redeclare class". Use like
<?php
if ( !class_exists( "YourClass" ) ) {
class YourClass {
//your code
}
}
?>
Thats it... Resolve all your problems =)
spamless_blair at nb dot net
09-Oct-2001 09:48
09-Oct-2001 09:48
I have a script that includes various class libraries depending on what is contained in the constant _INCLUDE_LIST which is a comma-delimited string.
define('_INCLUDE_LIST', 'CORE, LIB_DATA, LIB_EMAIL');
I use class_exists() to determine if a class definition has been included before creating an instance of it.
if(class_exists('CMySQLConnection')) $oData = new CMySQLConnection;
Hope it is helpful for someone!
-Jason Garber
IonZoft.com