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<title>Retrieves the parent class name for object or class</title>
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<h1 class="refname">get_parent_class</h1>
<p class="verinfo">(PHP 4, PHP 5)</p><p class="refpurpose"><span class="refname">get_parent_class</span> — <span class="dc-title">Retrieves the parent class name for object or class</span></p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 description" id="refsect1-function.get-parent-class-description">
<h3 class="title">Description</h3>
<div class="methodsynopsis dc-description">
<span class="type">string</span> <span class="methodname"><strong>get_parent_class</strong></span>
([ <span class="methodparam"><span class="type"><a href="language.pseudo-types.html#language.types.mixed" class="type mixed">mixed</a></span> <code class="parameter">$object</code></span>
] )</div>
<p class="para rdfs-comment">
Retrieves the parent class name for object or class.
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 parameters" id="refsect1-function.get-parent-class-parameters">
<h3 class="title">Parameters</h3>
<p class="para">
<dl>
<dt>
<span class="term"><em><code class="parameter">object</code></em></span>
<dd>
<p class="para">
The tested object or class name
</p>
</dd>
</dt>
</dl>
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 returnvalues" id="refsect1-function.get-parent-class-returnvalues">
<h3 class="title">Return Values</h3>
<p class="para">
Returns the name of the parent class of the class of which
<em><code class="parameter">object</code></em> is an instance or the name.
</p>
<blockquote class="note"><p><strong class="note">Note</strong>:
<p class="para">
If the object does not have a parent or the class given does not exist <strong><code>FALSE</code></strong> will be returned.
</p>
</p></blockquote>
<p class="para">
If called without parameter outside object, this function returns <strong><code>FALSE</code></strong>.
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 changelog" id="refsect1-function.get-parent-class-changelog">
<h3 class="title">Changelog</h3>
<p class="para">
<table class="doctable informaltable">
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Version</th>
<th>Description</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody class="tbody">
<tr>
<td>5.1.0</td>
<td>
If called without parameter outside object, this function would have
returned <strong><code>NULL</code></strong> with a warning, but now returns <strong><code>FALSE</code></strong>.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>5.0.0</td>
<td>
The <em><code class="parameter">object</code></em> parameter is optional if called
from the object's method.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>4.0.5</td>
<td>
If <em><code class="parameter">object</code></em> is a string, returns the name of the
parent class of the class with that name.
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 examples" id="refsect1-function.get-parent-class-examples">
<h3 class="title">Examples</h3>
<p class="para">
<div class="example" id="example-5056">
<p><strong>Example #1 Using <span class="function"><strong>get_parent_class()</strong></span></strong></p>
<div class="example-contents">
<div class="phpcode"><code><span style="color: #000000">
<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #007700">class </span><span style="color: #0000BB">dad </span><span style="color: #007700">{<br /> function </span><span style="color: #0000BB">dad</span><span style="color: #007700">()<br /> {<br /> </span><span style="color: #FF8000">// implements some logic<br /> </span><span style="color: #007700">}<br />}<br /><br />class </span><span style="color: #0000BB">child </span><span style="color: #007700">extends </span><span style="color: #0000BB">dad </span><span style="color: #007700">{<br /> function </span><span style="color: #0000BB">child</span><span style="color: #007700">()<br /> {<br /> echo </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"I'm " </span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">get_parent_class</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$this</span><span style="color: #007700">) , </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"'s son\n"</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /> }<br />}<br /><br />class </span><span style="color: #0000BB">child2 </span><span style="color: #007700">extends </span><span style="color: #0000BB">dad </span><span style="color: #007700">{<br /> function </span><span style="color: #0000BB">child2</span><span style="color: #007700">()<br /> {<br /> echo </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"I'm " </span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">get_parent_class</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'child2'</span><span style="color: #007700">) , </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"'s son too\n"</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /> }<br />}<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$foo </span><span style="color: #007700">= new </span><span style="color: #0000BB">child</span><span style="color: #007700">();<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$bar </span><span style="color: #007700">= new </span><span style="color: #0000BB">child2</span><span style="color: #007700">();<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>
</span>
</code></div>
</div>
<div class="example-contents"><p>The above example will output:</p></div>
<div class="example-contents screen">
<div class="cdata"><pre>
I'm dad's son
I'm dad's son too
</pre></div>
</div>
</div>
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 seealso" id="refsect1-function.get-parent-class-seealso">
<h3 class="title">See Also</h3>
<p class="para">
<ul class="simplelist">
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.get-class.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">get_class()</a> - Returns the name of the class of an object</span></li>
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.is-subclass-of.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">is_subclass_of()</a> - Checks if the object has this class as one of its parents</span></li>
</ul>
</p>
</div>
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