ConFoo 2025

constant

(PHP 4 >= 4.0.4, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)

constantDevuelve el valor de una constante

Descripción

constant(string $name): mixed

Devuelve el valor de una constante indicada por name.

constant() es útil si se necesita recuperar el valor de una constante, pero no se conoce su nombre. Esto es, está almacenada en una variable o es devuelta por una función.

Esta función también funciona con las constantes de clases.

Parámetros

name

El nombre de la constante.

Valores devueltos

Devuelve el valor de la constante, o null si la constante no está definida.

Errores/Excepciones

Se generará un error de nivel E_WARNING si la constante no está definida.

Ejemplos

Ejemplo #1 Ejemplo de constant()

<?php

define
("MAXSIZE", 100);

echo
MAXSIZE;
echo
constant("MAXSIZE"); // lo mismo que la línea anterior


interface bar {
const
test = 'foobar!';
}

class
foo {
const
test = 'foobar!';
}

$const = 'test';

var_dump(constant('bar::'. $const)); // string(7) "foobar!"
var_dump(constant('foo::'. $const)); // string(7) "foobar!"

?>

Ver también

  • define() - Define una constante con nombre
  • defined() - Comprueba si existe una constante con nombre dada
  • La sección sobre Constantes

add a note

User Contributed Notes 16 notes

up
82
Joachim Kruyswijk
20 years ago
The constant name can be an empty string.

Code:

define("", "foo");
echo constant("");

Output:

foo
up
21
t dot kmieliauskas at gmail dot com
9 years ago
If you are referencing class constant (either using namespaces or not, because one day you may want to start using them), you'll have the least headaches when doing it like this:

<?php
class Foo {
const
BAR = 42;
}
?>
<?php
namespace Baz;
use
\Foo as F;

echo
constant(F::class.'::BAR');
?>

since F::class will be dereferenced to whatever namespace shortcuts you are using (and those are way easier to refactor for IDE than just plain strings with hardcoded namespaces in string literals)
up
10
helvete at zhouba dot cz
8 years ago
It is worth noting, that keyword 'self' can be used for constant retrieval from within the class it is defined

<?php
class Foo {
const
PARAM_BAR = 'baz';

public function
getConst($name) {
return
constant("self::{$name}");
}
}

$foo = new Foo();
echo
$foo->getConst('PARAM_BAR'); // prints 'baz'
?>
up
14
Richard J. Turner
11 years ago
As of PHP 5.4.6 constant() pays no attention to any namespace aliases that might be defined in the file in which it's used. I.e. constant() always behaves as if it is called from the global namespace. This means that the following will not work:

<?php
class Foo {
const
BAR = 42;
}
?>

<?php
namespace Baz;

use
\Foo as F;

echo
constant('F::BAR');
?>

However, calling constant('Foo::BAR') will work as expected.
up
10
Trevor Blackbird > yurab.com
18 years ago
Technically you can define constants with names that are not valid for variables:

<?php

// $3some is not a valid variable name
// This will not work
$3some = 'invalid';

// This works
define('3some', 'valid');
echo
constant('3some');

?>

Of course this is not a good practice, but PHP has got you covered.
up
6
Andre
21 years ago
Maybe this is useful:

$file_ext is the file Extension of the image

<?php
if ( imagetypes() & @constant('IMG_' . strtoupper($file_ext)) )
{
$file_ext = $file_ext == 'jpg' ? 'jpeg' : $file_ext;
$create_func = 'ImageCreateFrom' . $file_ext;
}
?>
up
4
XC
17 years ago
When you often write lines like

<?php

if(defined('FOO') && constant('FOO') === 'bar')
{
...
}

?>

to prevent errors, you can use the following function to get the value of a constant.

<?php

function getconst($const)
{
return (
defined($const)) ? constant($const) : null;
}

?>

Finally you can check the value with

<?php

if(getconst('FOO') === 'bar')
{
...
}

?>

It's simply shorter.
up
1
hellekin
14 years ago
Checking if a constant is empty is bork...

You cannot

<?php
define
('A', '');
define('B', 'B');

if (empty(
B)) // syntax error
if (empty(constant('B'))) // fatal error

// so instead, thanks to LawnGnome on IRC, you can cast the constants to boolean (empty string is false)
if (((boolean) A) && ((boolean) B))
// do stuff
?>
up
0
nikolays93 at ya dot ru
4 years ago
<?php

namespace Foo;

define(__NAMESPACE__ . '\Bar', 'its work'); // ..but IDE may make notice

echo Bar; // its work
up
0
narada dot sage at googlemail dot com
18 years ago
To access the value of a class constant use the following technique.

<?php

class a {
const
b = 'c';
}

echo
constant('a::b');

// output: c

?>
up
0
Anonymous
19 years ago
In reply to VGR_experts_exchange at edainworks dot com

To check if a constant is boolean, use this instead:

<?php
if (TRACE === true) {}
?>

Much quicker and cleaner than using defined() and constant() to check for a simple boolean.

IMO, using ($var === true) or ($var === false) instead of ($var) or (!$var) is the best way to check for booleans no matter what. Leaves no chance of ambiguity.
up
-2
bohwaz
14 years ago
Return constants from an object. You can filter by regexp or match by value to find a constant name from the value.

Pretty useful sometimes.

<?php

function findConstantsFromObject($object, $filter = null, $find_value = null)
{
$reflect = new ReflectionClass($object);
$constants = $reflect->getConstants();

foreach (
$constants as $name => $value)
{
if (!
is_null($filter) && !preg_match($filter, $name))
{
unset(
$constants[$name]);
continue;
}

if (!
is_null($find_value) && $value != $find_value)
{
unset(
$constants[$name]);
continue;
}
}

return
$constants;
}

?>

Examples :

<?php

class Example
{
const
GENDER_UNKNOW = 0;
const
GENDER_FEMALE = 1;
const
GENDER_MALE = 2;

const
USER_OFFLINE = false;
const
USER_ONLINE = true;
}

$all = findConstantsFromObject('Example');

$genders = findConstantsFromObject('Example', '/^GENDER_/');

$my_gender = 1;
$gender_name = findConstantsFromObject('Example', '/^GENDER_/', $my_gender);

if (isset(
$gender_name[0]))
{
$gender_name = str_replace('GENDER_', '', key($gender_name));
}
else
{
$gender_name = 'WTF!';
}

?>
up
-2
Anonymous
5 years ago
The use of constant() (or some other method) to ensure the your_constant was defined is particularly important when it is to be defined as either `true` or `false`.

For example, taken from this Stackoverflow Question
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5427886/php-undefined-constant-testing/56604602#56604602)

If `BOO` did NOT get defined as a constant, for some reason,

<?php if(BOO) do_something(); ?>

would evaluate to `TRUE` and run anyway. A rather unexpected result.

The reason is that PHP ASSUMES you "forgot" quotation marks around `BOO` when it did not see it in its list of defined constants.
So it evaluates: `if ('BOO')`...
Since every string, other than the empty string, is "truthy", the expression evaluates to `true` and the do_something() is run, unexpectedly.

If you instead use:
<?php if (constant(BOO)) do_something() ?>

then if `BOO` has not been defined, `constant(BOO)` evaluates to `null`,
which is falsey, and `if (null)`... becomes `false`, so do_something() is skipped, as expected.

The PHP behavior regarding undefined constants is particularly glaring when having a particular constant defined is the exception, "falsey" is the default, and having a "truthy" value exposes a security issue. For example,
<?php if (IS_SPECIAL_CASE) show_php_info() ?> .

There are other ways around this PHP behavior, such as
<?php if (BOO === true) do_something(); ?>
or
<?php if (defined('BOO') && BOO) do_something() ?>.

Note that only the version using `defined()` works without also throwing a PHP Warning "error message."

Here is a php repl.it demonstration:
https://repl.it/@sherylhohman/php-undefined-constants-beware-of-truthy-conversion?language=php_cli&folderId=

(disclosure: I also submitted an answer to the SO question linked to above)
up
-2
dachnik
14 years ago
You can define values in your config file using the names of your defined constants, e.g.

in your php code:
define("MY_CONST",999);

in you config file:
my = MY_CONST

When reading the file do this:

$my = constant($value); // where $value is the string "MY_CONST"

now $my holds the value of 999
up
-4
adam at adamhahn dot com
13 years ago
This function is namespace sensitive when calling class constants.

Using:
<?php namespace sub;

class
foo {
const
BAR = 'Hello World';
}

constant('foo::BAR'); // Error

constant('sub\foo::BAR'); // works

?>

This does not seem to affect constants defined with the 'define' function. Those all end up defined in the root namespace unless another namespace is implicitly defined in the string name of the constant.
up
-3
mohammad alzoqaily
7 years ago
// 1) you can store the name of constant in default variable
// and use it without identify it's name :)

$str= "constName";

define("constName","this is constant");

echo constant($str);


output:
this is constant

// 2) good for dynamic generating constants


function generateConst( $const , $value , $sensitivity=TRUE )
{

define( "$const" , "$value ",$sensitivity);
}

$CONST="cost";
$VALUE="100$";

generateConst( $CONST , $VALUE);

echo constant($const);

output:
100$
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