<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<title>Namespaces and dynamic language features</title>
</head>
<body><div class="manualnavbar" style="text-align: center;">
<div class="prev" style="text-align: left; float: left;"><a href="language.namespaces.basics.html">Using namespaces: Basics</a></div>
<div class="next" style="text-align: right; float: right;"><a href="language.namespaces.nsconstants.html">namespace keyword and __NAMESPACE__ constant</a></div>
<div class="up"><a href="language.namespaces.html">Namespaces</a></div>
<div class="home"><a href="index.html">PHP Manual</a></div>
</div><hr /><div id="language.namespaces.dynamic" class="sect1">
<h2 class="title">Namespaces and dynamic language features</h2>
<p class="verinfo">(PHP 5 >= 5.3.0)</p>
<p class="para">
PHP's implementation of namespaces is influenced by its dynamic nature as a programming
language. Thus, to convert code like the following example into namespaced code:
<div class="example" id="example-242">
<p><strong>Example #1 Dynamically accessing elements</strong></p>
<div class="example-contents"><p>example1.php:</p></div>
<div class="example-contents">
<div class="phpcode"><code><span style="color: #000000">
<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php<br /></span><span style="color: #007700">class </span><span style="color: #0000BB">classname<br /></span><span style="color: #007700">{<br /> function </span><span style="color: #0000BB">__construct</span><span style="color: #007700">()<br /> {<br /> echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">__METHOD__</span><span style="color: #007700">,</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"\n"</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /> }<br />}<br />function </span><span style="color: #0000BB">funcname</span><span style="color: #007700">()<br />{<br /> echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">__FUNCTION__</span><span style="color: #007700">,</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"\n"</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br />}<br />const </span><span style="color: #0000BB">constname </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"global"</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$a </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #DD0000">'classname'</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$obj </span><span style="color: #007700">= new </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$a</span><span style="color: #007700">; </span><span style="color: #FF8000">// prints classname::__construct<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$b </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #DD0000">'funcname'</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$b</span><span style="color: #007700">(); </span><span style="color: #FF8000">// prints funcname<br /></span><span style="color: #007700">echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">constant</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'constname'</span><span style="color: #007700">), </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"\n"</span><span style="color: #007700">; </span><span style="color: #FF8000">// prints global<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>
</span>
</code></div>
</div>
</div>
One must use the fully qualified name (class name with namespace prefix).
Note that because there is no difference between a qualified and a fully qualified Name
inside a dynamic class name, function name, or constant name, the leading backslash is
not necessary.
<div class="example" id="example-243">
<p><strong>Example #2 Dynamically accessing namespaced elements</strong></p>
<div class="example-contents">
<div class="phpcode"><code><span style="color: #000000">
<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php<br /></span><span style="color: #007700">namespace </span><span style="color: #0000BB">namespacename</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br />class </span><span style="color: #0000BB">classname<br /></span><span style="color: #007700">{<br /> function </span><span style="color: #0000BB">__construct</span><span style="color: #007700">()<br /> {<br /> echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">__METHOD__</span><span style="color: #007700">,</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"\n"</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /> }<br />}<br />function </span><span style="color: #0000BB">funcname</span><span style="color: #007700">()<br />{<br /> echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">__FUNCTION__</span><span style="color: #007700">,</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"\n"</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br />}<br />const </span><span style="color: #0000BB">constname </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"namespaced"</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /><br />include </span><span style="color: #DD0000">'example1.php'</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$a </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #DD0000">'classname'</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$obj </span><span style="color: #007700">= new </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$a</span><span style="color: #007700">; </span><span style="color: #FF8000">// prints classname::__construct<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$b </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #DD0000">'funcname'</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$b</span><span style="color: #007700">(); </span><span style="color: #FF8000">// prints funcname<br /></span><span style="color: #007700">echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">constant</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'constname'</span><span style="color: #007700">), </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"\n"</span><span style="color: #007700">; </span><span style="color: #FF8000">// prints global<br /><br />/* note that if using double quotes, "\\namespacename\\classname" must be used */<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$a </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #DD0000">'\namespacename\classname'</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$obj </span><span style="color: #007700">= new </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$a</span><span style="color: #007700">; </span><span style="color: #FF8000">// prints namespacename\classname::__construct<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$a </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #DD0000">'namespacename\classname'</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$obj </span><span style="color: #007700">= new </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$a</span><span style="color: #007700">; </span><span style="color: #FF8000">// also prints namespacename\classname::__construct<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$b </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #DD0000">'namespacename\funcname'</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$b</span><span style="color: #007700">(); </span><span style="color: #FF8000">// prints namespacename\funcname<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$b </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #DD0000">'\namespacename\funcname'</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$b</span><span style="color: #007700">(); </span><span style="color: #FF8000">// also prints namespacename\funcname<br /></span><span style="color: #007700">echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">constant</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'\namespacename\constname'</span><span style="color: #007700">), </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"\n"</span><span style="color: #007700">; </span><span style="color: #FF8000">// prints namespaced<br /></span><span style="color: #007700">echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">constant</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'namespacename\constname'</span><span style="color: #007700">), </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"\n"</span><span style="color: #007700">; </span><span style="color: #FF8000">// also prints namespaced<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>
</span>
</code></div>
</div>
</div>
</p>
<p class="para">
Be sure to read the <a href="language.namespaces.faq.html#language.namespaces.faq.quote" class="link">note about
escaping namespace names in strings</a>.
</p>
</div><hr /><div class="manualnavbar" style="text-align: center;">
<div class="prev" style="text-align: left; float: left;"><a href="language.namespaces.basics.html">Using namespaces: Basics</a></div>
<div class="next" style="text-align: right; float: right;"><a href="language.namespaces.nsconstants.html">namespace keyword and __NAMESPACE__ constant</a></div>
<div class="up"><a href="language.namespaces.html">Namespaces</a></div>
<div class="home"><a href="index.html">PHP Manual</a></div>
</div></body></html>
