PHP static method vs instance method

Question

I have the following code in PHP. Testing in Phpunit and Laravel. Why is class method the same as instance method? I was expecting calling $instance->classMethod() would return some error. Does this also mean that instance method name shouldn't be shared by class method names? Or is 'static method' in php different from my understanding of a 'class method'?

<?php
class DemoClass{
    static function classMethod(){
        return "i'm a class method";
    }
}

class ExampleTest extends TestCase {

    /**
     * A basic functional test example.
     *
     * @return void
     */
    public function testBasicExample()
    {
        $instance = new DemoClass;
        $result1 = $instance->classMethod();
        $result2 = DemoClass::classmethod();

        $this->assertNotEquals($result1, $result2);
    }

}

The result:

Failed asserting that 'i'm a class method' is not equal to <string:i'm a class method>.

Possible duplicate: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9206760/static-methods-in-php — Aziz Saleh, Jun 01 '14 at 04:23

score 0 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:32

0

PHP is a very flexible language. There are many ways you can call static methods, 2 methods of which you have displayed above $object->staticmethod() or $object::staticMethod(). It is perfectly legal to call static methods from $this or the object instance.

Another way to call static/normal methods is using functions like call_user_func. An existing discussion exists over here:

Static methods in PHP

edited May 23 '17 at 10:32

Community

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answered Jun 01 '14 at 04:20

Aziz Saleh

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Thanks for pointing to the other question. I wasn't able to find it. I guess this is a feature, not a bug, for duck-typing class method mixed with instance method calling? Although a bit mind-bending from my previous OOP experience. – randomor Jun 01 '14 at 04:30

PHP static method vs instance method

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