PHP: how can a class reference its own name?

Well, there's get_class($Object)

Then there's __CLASS__ when used within a class

Or you could make a method that would return __CLASS__

Three options, get_called_class(), get_class() or the magic constant __CLASS__

Of those three get_called_class() is the one you want when dealing using a static function, although unfortuantely it does have a requirement of a PHP version of at least 5.3.0

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get_called_class()

If you need to get the class in a static function when the class may be derived it is slightly different as self is resolved to the class name where it was placed (See Limitations of self::). To work around this issue you need to use the function from PHP 5.3.0 get_called_class().

If you cannot use PHP 5.3.0 or greater you may find you cannot make the function static and still have it achieve the results you want.

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get_class()

get_class() returns the name of the actual class that the object is, irrespective of where the function call is.

class Animal{
     public function sayOwnClassName(){
         echo get_class($this);
     }
}

class Dog extends Animal{
}


$d = new Dog();
$d->sayOwnClassName(); //echos Dog

$a = new Animal();
$a->sayOwnClassName(); //echos Animal

get_class can also be used without a parameter, which would at first glance seem to indicate it would with static functions (as there is no need to pass $this), however when used without a parameter it works in the same way as __CLASS__

class Animal{
     public static function sayOwnClassName(){
         echo get_class();
     }
}

class Dog extends Animal{
}


Dog::sayOwnClassName(); //echos Animal
Animal::sayOwnClassName(); //echos Animal

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__CLASS__

__CLASS__ always expands to the name of the class where __CLASS__ was resolved, even when inheritance is taken into account.

class Animal{
     public function sayOwnClassName(){
         echo __CLASS__; //will always expand to Animal
     }
}

class Dog extends Animal{
}

$d = new Dog();
$d->sayOwnClassName(); //echos Animal

$a = new Animal();
$a->sayOwnClassName(); //echos Animal

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echo get_class($this);