PHP: What does ::class do?

Question

I noticed in Laravel this syntax:

Illuminate\Foundation\Providers\ArtisanServiceProvider::class

What does the ::class operator do?

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 21 '15 at 22:25

2

From the docs:

Since PHP 5.5, the class keyword is also used for class name resolution. You can get a string containing the fully qualified name of the ClassName class by using ClassName::class. This is particularly useful with namespaced classes.

answered Oct 21 '15 at 22:25

Charlie Schliesser

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Hah, me too! I thought this would be the case, but after checking the docs now we both have confirmation. – Charlie Schliesser Oct 21 '15 at 22:28

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 21 '15 at 22:30

from PHP doc "Since PHP 5.5, the class keyword is also used for class name resolution. You can get a string containing the fully qualified name of the ClassName class by using ClassName::class. This is particularly useful with namespaced classes."

<?php
   namespace NS {

       class ClassName {

       }

       echo ClassName::class;
   }
?>

http://php.net/manual/en/language.oop5.basic.php

PHP: What does ::class do?

2 Answers2