Magic constants
PHP provides a large number of predefined constants to any script which it runs. Many of these constants, however, are created by various extensions, and will only be present when those extensions are available, either via dynamic loading or because they have been compiled in.
There are eight magical constants that change depending on
where they are used. For example, the value of
__LINE__ depends on the line that it's
used on in your script. These special constants are
case-insensitive and are as follows:
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
__LINE__ |
The current line number of the file. |
__FILE__ |
The full path and filename of the file. If used inside an include,
the name of the included file is returned.
Since PHP 4.0.2, __FILE__ always contains an
absolute path with symlinks resolved whereas in older versions it contained relative path
under some circumstances.
|
__DIR__ |
The directory of the file. If used inside an include, the directory of the included file is returned. This is equivalent to dirname(__FILE__). This directory name does not have a trailing slash unless it is the root directory. (Added in PHP 5.3.0.) |
__FUNCTION__ |
The function name. (Added in PHP 4.3.0) As of PHP 5 this constant returns the function name as it was declared (case-sensitive). In PHP 4 its value is always lowercased. |
__CLASS__ |
The class name. (Added in PHP 4.3.0) As of PHP 5 this constant returns the class name as it was declared (case-sensitive). In PHP 4 its value is always lowercased. The class name includes the namespace it was declared in (e.g. Foo\Bar). Note that as of PHP 5.4 __CLASS__ works also in traits. When used in a trait method, __CLASS__ is the name of the class the trait is used in. |
__TRAIT__ |
The trait name. (Added in PHP 5.4.0) As of PHP 5.4 this constant returns the trait as it was declared (case-sensitive). The trait name includes the namespace it was declared in (e.g. Foo\Bar). |
__METHOD__ |
The class method name. (Added in PHP 5.0.0) The method name is returned as it was declared (case-sensitive). |
__NAMESPACE__ |
The name of the current namespace (case-sensitive). This constant is defined in compile-time (Added in PHP 5.3.0). |
See also get_class(), get_object_vars(), file_exists() and function_exists().
Коментарии
the difference between
__FUNCTION__ and __METHOD__ as in PHP 5.0.4 is that
__FUNCTION__ returns only the name of the function
while as __METHOD__ returns the name of the class alongwith the name of the function
class trick
{
function doit()
{
echo __FUNCTION__;
}
function doitagain()
{
echo __METHOD__;
}
}
$obj=new trick();
$obj->doit();
output will be ---- doit
$obj->doitagain();
output will be ----- trick::doitagain
The __CLASS__ magic constant nicely complements the get_class() function.
Sometimes you need to know both:
- name of the inherited class
- name of the class actually executed
Here's an example that shows the possible solution:
<?php
class base_class
{
function say_a()
{
echo "'a' - said the " . __CLASS__ . "<br/>";
}
function say_b()
{
echo "'b' - said the " . get_class($this) . "<br/>";
}
}
class derived_class extends base_class
{
function say_a()
{
parent::say_a();
echo "'a' - said the " . __CLASS__ . "<br/>";
}
function say_b()
{
parent::say_b();
echo "'b' - said the " . get_class($this) . "<br/>";
}
}
$obj_b = new derived_class();
$obj_b->say_a();
echo "<br/>";
$obj_b->say_b();
?>
The output should look roughly like this:
'a' - said the base_class
'a' - said the derived_class
'b' - said the derived_class
'b' - said the derived_class
Just learned an interesting tidbit regarding __FILE__ and the newer __DIR__ with respect to code run from a network share: the constants will return the *share* path when executed from the context of the share.
Examples:
// normal context
// called as "php -f c:\test.php"
__DIR__ === 'c:\';
__FILE__ === 'c:\test.php';
// network share context
// called as "php -f \\computerName\c$\test.php"
__DIR__ === '\\computerName\c$';
__FILE__ === '\\computerName\c$\test.php';
NOTE: realpath('.') always seems to return an actual filesystem path regardless of the execution context.
Note a small inconsistency when using __CLASS__ and __METHOD__ in traits (stand php 7.0.4): While __CLASS__ is working as advertized and returns dynamically the name of the class the trait is being used in, __METHOD__ will actually prepend the trait name instead of the class name!If you're using PHP with fpm (common in this day and age), be aware that __DIR__ and __FILE__ will return values based on the fpm root which MAY differ from its actual location on the file system.
This can cause temporary head-scratching if deploying an app where php files within the web root pull in PHP files from outside of itself (a very common case). You may be wondering why __DIR__ returns "/" when the file itself lives in /var/www/html or whathaveyou.
You might handle such a situation by having NGINX explicitly add the necessary part of the path in its fastcgi request and then you can set the root on the FPM process / server / container to be something other than the webroot (so long as no other way it could become publicly accessible).
Hope that saves someone five minutes who's moving code to FPM that uses __DIR__.