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is_subclass_of

(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)

is_subclass_ofChecks if the object has this class as one of its parents or implements it

Description

is_subclass_of(mixed $object_or_class, string $class, bool $allow_string = true): bool

Checks if the given object_or_class has the class class as one of its parents or implements it.

Parameters

object_or_class

A class name or an object instance. No error is generated if the class does not exist.

class

The class name

allow_string

If this parameter set to false, string class name as object_or_class is not allowed. This also prevents from calling autoloader if the class doesn't exist.

Return Values

This function returns true if the object object_or_class, belongs to a class which is a subclass of class, false otherwise.

Examples

Example #1 is_subclass_of() example

<?php
// define a class
class WidgetFactory
{
var
$oink = 'moo';
}

// define a child class
class WidgetFactory_Child extends WidgetFactory
{
var
$oink = 'oink';
}

// create a new object
$WF = new WidgetFactory();
$WFC = new WidgetFactory_Child();

if (
is_subclass_of($WFC, 'WidgetFactory')) {
echo
"yes, \$WFC is a subclass of WidgetFactory\n";
} else {
echo
"no, \$WFC is not a subclass of WidgetFactory\n";
}


if (
is_subclass_of($WF, 'WidgetFactory')) {
echo
"yes, \$WF is a subclass of WidgetFactory\n";
} else {
echo
"no, \$WF is not a subclass of WidgetFactory\n";
}


if (
is_subclass_of('WidgetFactory_Child', 'WidgetFactory')) {
echo
"yes, WidgetFactory_Child is a subclass of WidgetFactory\n";
} else {
echo
"no, WidgetFactory_Child is not a subclass of WidgetFactory\n";
}
?>

The above example will output:

yes, $WFC is a subclass of WidgetFactory
no, $WF is not a subclass of WidgetFactory
yes, WidgetFactory_Child is a subclass of WidgetFactory

Example #2 is_subclass_of() using interface example

<?php
// Define the Interface
interface MyInterface
{
public function
MyFunction();
}

// Define the class implementation of the interface
class MyClass implements MyInterface
{
public function
MyFunction()
{
return
"MyClass Implements MyInterface!";
}
}

// Instantiate the object
$my_object = new MyClass;

// Works since 5.3.7

// Test using the object instance of the class
if (is_subclass_of($my_object, 'MyInterface')) {
echo
"Yes, \$my_object is a subclass of MyInterface\n";
} else {
echo
"No, \$my_object is not a subclass of MyInterface\n";
}

// Test using a string of the class name
if (is_subclass_of('MyClass', 'MyInterface')) {
echo
"Yes, MyClass is a subclass of MyInterface\n";
} else {
echo
"No, MyClass is not a subclass of MyInterface\n";
}
?>

The above example will output:

Yes, $my_object is a subclass of MyInterface
Yes, MyClass is a subclass of MyInterface

Notes

Note:

Using this function will use any registered autoloaders if the class is not already known.

See Also

  • get_class() - Returns the name of the class of an object
  • get_parent_class() - Retrieves the parent class name for object or class
  • is_a() - Checks whether the object is of a given type or subtype
  • class_parents() - Return the parent classes of the given class

add a note

User Contributed Notes 9 notes

up
17
gunniboyh at web dot de
17 years ago
is_subclass_of() works also with classes between the class of obj and the superclass.

example:
<?php
class A {};
class
B extends A {};
class
C extends B {};

$foo=new C();
echo ((
is_subclass_of($foo,'A')) ? 'true' : 'false');
?>

echoes 'true' .
up
10
nicholas at aquarionics dot com
15 years ago
This might be useful to someone, so:

If you're using Autoload, you should be aware that this will attempt to autoload $classname if it isn't already loaded. I discovered this when I had something using is_subclass_of inside an error thrown by autoload, which then recursed until it ran out of memory.
up
2
alan at jynxy.net
5 years ago
The $allow_string parameter is not very clearly documented. When true, it simply allows the first parameter to be the name of a class, instead of an object whose class we are interested in.

Some usage examples:

class parent_class {
// objects and methods ...
}

$possible_child_object = new possible_child_class(); // might be an extension of parent_class

$result = is_subclass_of($possible_child_object, 'parent_class'); // valid
$result = is_subclass_of($possible_child_object, 'parent_class', false); // valid
$result = is_subclass_of('possible_child_class', 'parent_class', true); // valid
$result = is_subclass_of('possible_child_class', 'parent_class', false); // not valid
up
1
Anonymous
1 year ago
You can check if your current class is a child with:

<?php is_subclass_of($this, self::class) ?>

<?php
class a {
public function
check(): bool {
return
is_subclass_of($this, self::class);
}
}

class
b extends a {}

$a = new a();
$b = new b();

echo
$a->check() ? 'Yes' : 'No';
echo
PHP_EOL;
echo
$b->check() ? 'Yes' : 'No';
echo
PHP_EOL;
?>

prints:
No
Yes
up
0
Shane
5 days ago
In addition to Anonymous's post above regarding using this to determine whether your class has been inherited or not, you may also use this in static methods as follows:

<?php
class a {
public static function
check() {
return
is_subclass_of(static::class, self::class);
}
}

class
b extends a {}

echo
a::check() ? "Yes" : "No";
echo
PHP_EOL;
echo
b::check() ? "Yes" : "No";
echo
PHP_EOL;
?>

Prints:
No
Yes
up
-3
kostyl_kostyl gav-gav mail point ru
15 years ago
<?php
interface I {
}
class
A implements I {
}
class
B extends A {
}
if (
is_subclass_of('A', 'I')) {
echo
'good<br>';
}
else {
echo
'bad<br>';
}
if (
is_subclass_of('B', 'I')) {
echo
'good<br>';
}
else {
echo
'bad<br>';
}
if (
is_subclass_of('B', 'A')) {
echo
'good<br>';
}
else {
echo
'bad<br>';
}
?>

result:
bad <- you must to describe intermediate class B to be good
good
good
up
-2
Damien Bezborodov
15 years ago
If you need something similar to is_subclass_of() to determine if a class implements an interface before instantiating it, use reflection:

<?php

interface A_Interface {}
class
A implements A_Interface {}

$reflectionA = new ReflectionClass('A');
var_dump(
$reflectionA->implementsInterface('A_Interface')
);

?>
bool(true)
up
-3
jm
15 years ago
It would appear that is_subclass_of is case insensitive unlike get_class in php5.
i.e.

<?php
class fooBar {}
class
bar extends fooBar {}

assert(get_class(new fooBar()) == "fooBar");
assert(is_subclass_of(new bar(), "foobar") == true);
?>

i run across this while migrating some code from php4 to php5 and the code would only half-the-time break.
up
-7
Ondra Zizka
17 years ago
For PHP4:

<?php
/** Returns whether specified class is subclass of the other class. */
function is_subclass($sClass, $sExpectedParentClass){
do if(
$sExpectedParentClass === $sClass ) return true;
while(
false != ($sClass = get_parent_class($sClass)) );
return
false;
}
// Test:
class A {} class B extends A {} class C extends B {} echo (int) is_subclass('C', 'A');
?>
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