ConFoo 2025

Anonymous classes

Anonymous classes are useful when simple, one-off objects need to be created.

<?php

// Using an explicit class
class Logger
{
public function
log($msg)
{
echo
$msg;
}
}

$util->setLogger(new Logger());

// Using an anonymous class
$util->setLogger(new class {
public function
log($msg)
{
echo
$msg;
}
});

They can pass arguments through to their constructors, extend other classes, implement interfaces, and use traits just like a normal class can:

<?php

class SomeClass {}
interface
SomeInterface {}
trait
SomeTrait {}

var_dump(new class(10) extends SomeClass implements SomeInterface {
private
$num;

public function
__construct($num)
{
$this->num = $num;
}

use
SomeTrait;
});

Il precedente esempio visualizzerà:

object(class@anonymous)#1 (1) {
  ["Command line code0x104c5b612":"class@anonymous":private]=>
  int(10)
}

Nesting an anonymous class within another class does not give it access to any private or protected methods or properties of that outer class. In order to use the outer class' protected properties or methods, the anonymous class can extend the outer class. To use the private properties of the outer class in the anonymous class, they must be passed through its constructor:

<?php

class Outer
{
private
$prop = 1;
protected
$prop2 = 2;

protected function
func1()
{
return
3;
}

public function
func2()
{
return new class(
$this->prop) extends Outer {
private
$prop3;

public function
__construct($prop)
{
$this->prop3 = $prop;
}

public function
func3()
{
return
$this->prop2 + $this->prop3 + $this->func1();
}
};
}
}

echo (new
Outer)->func2()->func3();

Il precedente esempio visualizzerà:

6

All objects created by the same anonymous class declaration are instances of that very class.

<?php
function anonymous_class()
{
return new class {};
}

if (
get_class(anonymous_class()) === get_class(anonymous_class())) {
echo
'same class';
} else {
echo
'different class';
}

Il precedente esempio visualizzerà:

same class

Nota:

Note that anonymous classes are assigned a name by the engine, as demonstrated in the following example. This name has to be regarded an implementation detail, which should not be relied upon.

<?php
echo get_class(new class {});

Il precedente esempio visualizzerà qualcosa simile a:

class@anonymous/in/oNi1A0x7f8636ad2021

add a note

User Contributed Notes 8 notes

up
50
Anonymous
8 years ago
Below three examples describe anonymous class with very simple and basic but quite understandable example

<?php
// First way - anonymous class assigned directly to variable
$ano_class_obj = new class{
public
$prop1 = 'hello';
public
$prop2 = 754;
const
SETT = 'some config';

public function
getValue()
{
// do some operation
return 'some returned value';
}

public function
getValueWithArgu($str)
{
// do some operation
return 'returned value is '.$str;
}
};

echo
"\n";

var_dump($ano_class_obj);
echo
"\n";

echo
$ano_class_obj->prop1;
echo
"\n";

echo
$ano_class_obj->prop2;
echo
"\n";

echo
$ano_class_obj::SETT;
echo
"\n";

echo
$ano_class_obj->getValue();
echo
"\n";

echo
$ano_class_obj->getValueWithArgu('OOP');
echo
"\n";

echo
"\n";

// Second way - anonymous class assigned to variable via defined function
$ano_class_obj_with_func = ano_func();

function
ano_func()
{
return new class {
public
$prop1 = 'hello';
public
$prop2 = 754;
const
SETT = 'some config';

public function
getValue()
{
// do some operation
return 'some returned value';
}

public function
getValueWithArgu($str)
{
// do some operation
return 'returned value is '.$str;
}
};
}

echo
"\n";

var_dump($ano_class_obj_with_func);
echo
"\n";

echo
$ano_class_obj_with_func->prop1;
echo
"\n";

echo
$ano_class_obj_with_func->prop2;
echo
"\n";

echo
$ano_class_obj_with_func::SETT;
echo
"\n";

echo
$ano_class_obj_with_func->getValue();
echo
"\n";

echo
$ano_class_obj_with_func->getValueWithArgu('OOP');
echo
"\n";

echo
"\n";

// Third way - passing argument to anonymous class via constructors
$arg = 1; // we got it by some operation
$config = [2, false]; // we got it by some operation
$ano_class_obj_with_arg = ano_func_with_arg($arg, $config);

function
ano_func_with_arg($arg, $config)
{
return new class(
$arg, $config) {
public
$prop1 = 'hello';
public
$prop2 = 754;
public
$prop3, $config;
const
SETT = 'some config';

public function
__construct($arg, $config)
{
$this->prop3 = $arg;
$this->config =$config;
}

public function
getValue()
{
// do some operation
return 'some returned value';
}

public function
getValueWithArgu($str)
{
// do some operation
return 'returned value is '.$str;
}
};
}

echo
"\n";

var_dump($ano_class_obj_with_arg);
echo
"\n";

echo
$ano_class_obj_with_arg->prop1;
echo
"\n";

echo
$ano_class_obj_with_arg->prop2;
echo
"\n";

echo
$ano_class_obj_with_arg::SETT;
echo
"\n";

echo
$ano_class_obj_with_arg->getValue();
echo
"\n";

echo
$ano_class_obj_with_arg->getValueWithArgu('OOP');
echo
"\n";

echo
"\n";
up
27
ytubeshareit at gmail dot com
7 years ago
Anonymous classes are syntax sugar that may appear deceiving to some.
The 'anonymous' class is still parsed into the global scope, where it is auto assigned a name, and every time the class is needed, that global class definition is used. Example to illustrate....

The anonymous class version...
<?php

function return_anon(){
return new class{
public static
$str="foo";
};
}
$test=return_anon();
echo
$test::$str; //ouputs foo

//we can still access the 'anon' class directly in the global scope!
$another=get_class($test); //get the auto assigned name
echo $another::$str; //outputs foo
?>

The above is functionally the same as doing this....
<?php
class I_named_this_one{
public static
$str="foo";
}
function
return_not_anon(){
return
'I_named_this_one';
}
$clzz=return_not_anon();//get class name
echo $clzz::$str;
?>
up
10
sebastian.wasser at gmail
5 years ago
I wanted to share my findings on static properties of anonymous classes.

So, given an anonymous class' object generating function like this:

<?php
function nc () {
return new class {
public static
$prop = [];
};
}
?>

Getting a new object and changing the static property:

<?php
$a
= nc();
$a::$prop[] = 'a';

var_dump($a::$prop);
// array(1) {
// [0] =>
// string(1) "a"
// }
?>

Now getting another object and changing the static property will change the original one, meaning that the static property is truly static:

<?php
$b
= nc();
$b::$prop[] = 'b';

var_dump($b::$prop); // Same as var_dump($a::$prop);
// array(2) {
// [0] =>
// string(1) "a"
// [1] =>
// string(1) "b"
// }

assert($a::$prop === $b::$prop); // true
?>
up
7
joey
5 years ago
The only way to type hint this would appear to be as object.

If you need multiple instances of an anonymous class in a function you can use:

$class = function(string $arg):object {
return new class($arg) {
public function __construct(string $arg) {
$this->ow = $arg;
}
};
};

Though for the sake of structure it's ill advised to do something like this outside of a single scope or that's used across multiple files. If you class is only used in one scope however then it's probably not a code mess problem.
up
8
j.m \ jamesweb \ ca
7 years ago
/* I like the idea of OneShot classes.
Thanks to that Anonymous bro\sist for precising
new class( $a, $b )
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

If you are looking for "Delayed OneShot Anonymous Classes" for any reason (like the reason: loading files in a readable manner while not using autoload), it would probably look something like this; */

$u = function()use(&$u){
$u = new class{private $name = 'Utils';};
};

$w = function(&$rewrite)use(&$w){
$w = null;
$rewrite = new class{private $name = 'DataUtils';};
};

// Usage;
var_dump(
array(
'Delayed',
'( Self Destructive )',
'Anonymous Class Creation',
array(
'Before ( $u )' => $u,
'Running ( $u() )' => $u(),
'After ( $u )' => $u,
),
0,0,
0,0,
0,0,
'Delayed',
'( Overwriting && Self Destructive )',
'Anonymous Class Creation',
array(
'Before ( $w )' => $w,
'Running ( $w($u) )' => $w($u),
'After ( $w )' => $w,
'After ( $u )' => $u
)
)
);

// btw : oh shoot I failed a spam challenge
up
4
razvan_bc at yahoo dot com
4 years ago
you can try these

<?php

$oracle
=&$_['nice_php'];
$_['nice_php']=(function(){
return new class{
public static function
say($msg){
echo
$msg;
}

public static function
sp(){
echo
self::say(' ');
}

};
});

/*
$_['nice_php']()::say('Hello');
$_['nice_php']()::sp();
$_['nice_php']()::say('World');
$_['nice_php']()::sp();
$_['nice_php']()::say('!');
//almost the same code bottom
*/

$oracle()::say('Hello');
$oracle()::sp();
$oracle()::say('World');
$oracle()::sp();
$oracle()::say('!');
?>
up
1
piotr at maslosoft dot com
7 years ago
Please note that class name returned by `get_class` might contain null bytes, as is the case in my version of PHP (7.1.4).

Name will change when class starting line or it's body is changed.

Yes, name is implementation detail that should not be relied upon, but in some rare use cases it is required (annotating anonymous class).
up
0
ismaelj+php at hotmail dot com
3 months ago
Thanks to the new property hooks in PHP 8.4 (https://wiki.php.net/rfc/property-hooks) and anonymous functions, now we can create an inner class instantiated only on use:

<?php
class BaseClass {
public function
__construct() { echo "base class\n"; }

public
$childClass { set {} get {
if (
$this->childClass === null ) {
$this->childClass = new class {
public function
__construct() { echo " child class\n"; }
public function
say(string $s) : void { echo " $s\n"; }
};
}

return
$this->childClass;
}
}
}

$base = new BaseClass();

$base->childClass->say('Hello');
$base->childClass->say('World');

/*
Output:

base class
child class
Hello
World
*/
?>

The obvious downside is that you can't set a type to the child class, unless you define an interface and the child class implements it or if the child class extends an existing class:

<?php
class ParentClass {
public function
say(string $s) : void { echo " $s\n"; }
}

class
BaseClass {
public function
__construct() { echo "base class\n"; }

public
ParentClass $childClass { set {} get {
if (!isset(
$this->childClass)) {
$this->childClass = new class extends ParentClass {
public function
__construct() { echo " child class\n"; }
};
}

return
$this->childClass;
}
}
}

$base = new BaseClass();

$base->childClass->say('Hello');
$base->childClass->say('World');

/*
Output:

base class
child class
Hello
World
*/
?>
?>

This can be also done with functions, but with hooks to me looks more like in other languages that have this functionality natively.
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