If you like to declare an __autoload function within a namespace or class, use the spl_autoload_register() function to register it and it will work fine.
Name resolution rules
(PHP 5 >= 5.3.0, PHP 7)
For the purposes of these resolution rules, here are some important definitions:
-
Namespace name definitions
- Unqualified name
-
This is an identifier without a namespace separator, such as Foo
- Qualified name
-
This is an identifier with a namespace separator, such as Foo\Bar
- Fully qualified name
-
This is an identifier with a namespace separator that begins with a namespace separator, such as \Foo\Bar. The namespace \Foo is also a fully qualified name.
Names are resolved following these resolution rules:
- Calls to fully qualified functions, classes or constants are resolved at compile-time. For instance new \A\B resolves to class A\B.
- All unqualified and qualified names (not fully qualified names) are translated during compilation according to current import rules. For example, if the namespace A\B\C is imported as C, a call to C\D\e() is translated to A\B\C\D\e().
- Inside a namespace, all qualified names not translated according to import rules have the current namespace prepended. For example, if a call to C\D\e() is performed within namespace A\B, it is translated to A\B\C\D\e().
- Unqualified class names are translated during compilation according to current import rules (full name substituted for short imported name). In example, if the namespace A\B\C is imported as C, new C() is translated to new A\B\C().
-
Inside namespace (say A\B), calls to unqualified functions are resolved at run-time.
Here is how a
call to function foo() is resolved:
- It looks for a function from the current namespace: A\B\foo().
- It tries to find and call the global function foo().
-
Inside namespace (say A\B), calls to unqualified or qualified
class names (not fully qualified class names)
are resolved at run-time. Here is how a call to
new C() or new D\E() is resolved.
For new C():
- It looks for a class from the current namespace: A\B\C.
- It attempts to autoload A\B\C.
- It looks for a class by prepending the current namespace: A\B\D\E.
- It attempts to autoload A\B\D\E.
Example #1 Name resolutions illustrated
<?php
namespace A;
use B\D, C\E as F;
// function calls
foo(); // first tries to call "foo" defined in namespace "A"
// then calls global function "foo"
\foo(); // calls function "foo" defined in global scope
my\foo(); // calls function "foo" defined in namespace "A\my"
F(); // first tries to call "F" defined in namespace "A"
// then calls global function "F"
// class references
new B(); // creates object of class "B" defined in namespace "A"
// if not found, it tries to autoload class "A\B"
new D(); // using import rules, creates object of class "D" defined in namespace "B"
// if not found, it tries to autoload class "B\D"
new F(); // using import rules, creates object of class "E" defined in namespace "C"
// if not found, it tries to autoload class "C\E"
new \B(); // creates object of class "B" defined in global scope
// if not found, it tries to autoload class "B"
new \D(); // creates object of class "D" defined in global scope
// if not found, it tries to autoload class "D"
new \F(); // creates object of class "F" defined in global scope
// if not found, it tries to autoload class "F"
// static methods/namespace functions from another namespace
B\foo(); // calls function "foo" from namespace "A\B"
B::foo(); // calls method "foo" of class "B" defined in namespace "A"
// if class "A\B" not found, it tries to autoload class "A\B"
D::foo(); // using import rules, calls method "foo" of class "D" defined in namespace "B"
// if class "B\D" not found, it tries to autoload class "B\D"
\B\foo(); // calls function "foo" from namespace "B"
\B::foo(); // calls method "foo" of class "B" from global scope
// if class "B" not found, it tries to autoload class "B"
// static methods/namespace functions of current namespace
A\B::foo(); // calls method "foo" of class "B" from namespace "A\A"
// if class "A\A\B" not found, it tries to autoload class "A\A\B"
\A\B::foo(); // calls method "foo" of class "B" from namespace "A"
// if class "A\B" not found, it tries to autoload class "A\B"
?>
add a note
User Contributed Notes 9 notes
kdimi ¶
14 years ago
rangel ¶
15 years ago
The term "autoload" mentioned here shall not be confused with __autoload function to autoload objects. Regarding the __autoload and namespaces' resolution I'd like to share the following experience:
->Say you have the following directory structure:
- root
| - loader.php
| - ns
| - foo.php
->foo.php
<?php
namespace ns;
class foo
{
public $say;
public function __construct()
{
$this->say = "bar";
}
}
?>
-> loader.php
<?php
//GLOBAL SPACE <--
function __autoload($c)
{
require_once $c . ".php";
}
class foo extends ns\foo // ns\foo is loaded here
{
public function __construct()
{
parent::__construct();
echo "<br />foo" . $this->say;
}
}
$a = new ns\foo(); // ns\foo also loads ns/foo.php just fine here.
echo $a->say; // prints bar as expected.
$b = new foo; // prints foobar just fine.
?>
If you keep your directory/file matching namespace/class consistence the object __autoload works fine.
But... if you try to give loader.php a namespace you'll obviously get fatal errors.
My sample is just 1 level dir, but I've tested with a very complex and deeper structure. Hope anybody finds this useful.
Cheers!
safakozpinar at NOSPAM dot gmail dot com ¶
14 years ago
As working with namespaces and using (custom or basic) autoload structure; magic function __autoload must be defined in global scope, not in a namespace, also not in another function or method.
<?php
namespace Glue {
/**
* Define your custom structure and algorithms
* for autoloading in this class.
*/
class Import
{
public static function load ($classname)
{
echo 'Autoloading class '.$classname."\n";
require_once $classname.'.php';
}
}
}
/**
* Define function __autoload in global namespace.
*/
namespace {
function __autoload ($classname)
{
\Glue\Import::load($classname);
}
}
?>
Kavoir.com ¶
10 years ago
For point 4, "In example, if the namespace A\B\C is imported as C" should be "In example, if the class A\B\C is imported as C".
llmll ¶
9 years ago
The mentioned filesystem analogy fails at an important point:
Namespace resolution *only* works at declaration time. The compiler fixates all namespace/class references as absolute paths, like creating absolute symlinks.
You can't expect relative symlinks, which should be evaluated during access -> during PHP runtime.
In other words, namespaces are evaluated like __CLASS__ or self:: at parse-time. What's *not* happening, is the pendant for late static binding like static:: which resolves to the current class at runtime.
So you can't do the following:
namespace Alpha;
class Helper {
public static $Value = "ALPHA";
}
class Base {
public static function Write() {
echo Helper::$Value;
}
}
namespace Beta;
class Helper extends \Alpha\Helper {
public static $Value = 'BETA';
}
class Base extends \Alpha\Base {}
\Beta\Base::Write(); // should write "BETA" as this is the executing namespace context at runtime.
If you copy the write() function into \Beta\Base it works as expected.
rangel ¶
15 years ago
The term "autoload" mentioned here shall not be confused with __autoload function to autoload objects. Regarding the __autoload and namespaces' resolution I'd like to share the following experience:
->Say you have the following directory structure:
- root
| - loader.php
| - ns
| - foo.php
->foo.php
<?php
namespace ns;
class foo
{
public $say;
public function __construct()
{
$this->say = "bar";
}
}
?>
-> loader.php
<?php
//GLOBAL SPACE <--
function __autoload($c)
{
require_once $c . ".php";
}
class foo extends ns\foo // ns\foo is loaded here
{
public function __construct()
{
parent::__construct();
echo "<br />foo" . $this->say;
}
}
$a = new ns\foo(); // ns\foo also loads ns/foo.php just fine here.
echo $a->say; // prints bar as expected.
$b = new foo; // prints foobar just fine.
?>
If you keep your directory/file matching namespace/class consistence the object __autoload works fine.
But... if you try to give loader.php a namespace you'll obviously get fatal errors.
My sample is just 1 level dir, but I've tested with a very complex and deeper structure. Hope anybody finds this useful.
Cheers!
CJ Taylor ¶
10 years ago
It took me playing with it a bit as I had a hard time finding documentation on when a class name matches a namespace, if that's even legal and what behavior to expect. It IS explained in #6 but I thought I'd share this with other souls like me that see it better by example. Assume all 3 files below are in the same directory.
file1.php
<?php
namespace foo;
class foo {
static function hello() {
echo "hello world!";
}
}
?>
file2.php
<?php
namespace foo;
include('file1.php');
foo::hello(); //you're in the same namespace, or scope.
\foo\foo::hello(); //called on a global scope.
?>
file3.php
<?php
include('file1.php');
foo\foo::hello(); //you're outside of the namespace
\foo\foo::hello(); //called on a global scope.
?>
Depending upon what you're building (example: a module, plugin, or package on a larger application), sometimes declaring a class that matches a namespace makes sense or may even be required. Just be aware that if you try to reference any class that shares the same namespace, omit the namespace unless you do it globally like the examples above.
I hope this is useful, particularly for those that are trying to wrap your head around this 5.3 feature.
anrdaemon at freemail dot ru ¶
8 years ago
Namespaces may be case-insensitive, but autoloaders most often do.
Do yourself a service, keep your cases consistent with file names, and don't overcomplicate autoloaders beyond necessity.
Something like this should suffice for most times:
<?php
namespace org\example;
function spl_autoload($className)
{
$file = new \SplFileInfo(__DIR__ . substr(strtr("$className.php", '\\', '/'), 11));
$path = $file->getRealPath();
if(empty($path))
{
return false;
}
else
{
return include_once $path;
}
}
\spl_autoload_register('\org\example\spl_autoload');
?>
dn dot permyakov at gmail dot com ¶
10 years ago
Can someone explain to me - why do we need p.4 if we have p.2 (which covers both unqualified and qualified names)?
