Given a class instance, is it possible to determine if it implements a particular interface? As far as I know, there isn't a built-in function to do this directly. What options do I have (if any)?
Given a class instance, is it possible to determine if it implements a particular interface? As far as I know, there isn't a built-in function to do this directly. What options do I have (if any)?
interface IInterface
{
}
class TheClass implements IInterface
{
}
$cls = new TheClass();
if ($cls instanceof IInterface) {
echo "yes";
}
You can use the "instanceof" operator. To use it, the left operand is a class instance and the right operand is an interface. It returns true if the object implements a particular interface.
nlaq points out that instanceof can be used to test if the object is an instance of a class that implements an interface.
But instanceof doesn't distinguish between a class type and an interface. You don't know if the object is a class that happens to be called IInterface.
You can also use the reflection API in PHP to test this more specifically:
$class = new ReflectionClass('TheClass');
if ($class->implementsInterface('IInterface'))
{
print "Yep!\n";
}
The is_a function is missing here as alternative.
I did some performance tests to check which of the stated ways is the most performant.
instanceof [object] took 7.67 ms | + 0% | ..........
is_a [object] took 12.30 ms | + 60% | ................
is_a [class] took 17.43 ms | +127% | ......................
class_implements [object] took 28.37 ms | +270% | ....................................
reflection [class] took 34.17 ms | +346% | ............................................
Added some dots to actually "feel" see the difference.
Generated by this: https://3v4l.org/8Cog7
In case you have an object to check, use instanceof like mentioned in the accepted answer.
In case you have a class to check, use is_a.
Given the case you want to instantiate a class based on an interface you require it to have, it is more preformant to use is_a. There is only one exception - when the constructor is empty.
Example:
is_a(<className>, <interfaceName>, true);
It will return bool. The third parameter "allow_string" allows it to check class names without instantiating the class.