get_class_methods

gtisza at gmail dot com (2012-10-05 10:13:42)

Methods are returned in the order they are defined in the source, with child methods preceding parent methods. This is also true for methods which are overridden in the child, which might lead to subtle errors when using a class which dynamically calls its own methods (e. g. a unit test or a Zend bootstrap class): by subclassing it to modify the behavior of a method, the order of calling the methods is changed.

mnkras at gmail dot com (2011-05-15 09:00:39)

I use this function for an api, so it excludes some functions from the list.

<?php
    public function getApiList() {
        $cmethods = get_class_methods(__CLASS__);
        $exclude = array('generateAuth', 'authenticateRequest', 'getApiList');
        $methods = array();
        foreach($cmethods as $value){
            if(!in_array($value, $exclude)) {
                $methods[] = $value;
            }
        }
        return $methods;
    }
?>

fschmengler at sgh-it dot eu (2010-01-08 04:40:16)

It should be noted that the returned methods are dependant on the current scope. See this example:

<?php
class C
{
    private function privateMethod()
    {
        
    }
    public function publicMethod()
    {
        
    }
    public function __construct()
    {
        echo '$this:';
        var_dump(get_class_methods($this));
        echo 'C (inside class):';
        var_dump(get_class_methods('C'));
    }
}
$c = new C;
echo '$c:';
var_dump(get_class_methods($c));
echo 'C (outside class):';
var_dump(get_class_methods('C'));
?>

Output:

$this:
array
  0 => string 'privateMethod' (length=13)
  1 => string 'publicMethod' (length=12)
  2 => string '__construct' (length=11)

C (inside class):
array
  0 => string 'privateMethod' (length=13)
  1 => string 'publicMethod' (length=12)
  2 => string '__construct' (length=11)

$c:
array
  0 => string 'publicMethod' (length=12)
  1 => string '__construct' (length=11)

C (outside class):
array
  0 => string 'publicMethod' (length=12)
  1 => string '__construct' (length=11)

James Laver (2007-12-14 07:39:46)

I have a situation with a superclass using get_class_methods() on a child and it's returning protected methods of the parent.
I thought people should be aware of this since it's forcing me to go use the reflection system instead.

php at stock-consulting dot com (2007-02-06 02:40:13)

Note that this function will answer both class AND instance methods ("class methods" are called "static" in PHP). Sort of a little "trap" for people who have in-depth experience with the OO terminology :-)

BoD (2006-03-15 07:09:00)

!Concerning PHP5 Only!

If you want to get all methods/functions from a class you can do this with the get_class_methods function.
<?php
    $arrMethodNames = get_class_methods ( $ClassNameOrObject);
?>
However the drawback on this function in PHP5 is that you will NOT receive protected and private methods of a class/object if you are calling the method from another class/object context.

If you want to receive all methods of a given Class in another Class you should use the PHP5 Reflection API. The following source allows to retrieve all methods from a derived class in its (abstract) Base Class.

In the example you need to call the base constructor from the derived classes constructor in order to let the base class know the name of the derived class. Use the "__CLASS__" definition for passing the classname of current class to its base class.

<?php

    // Base Class - Abstract
    abstract class A {
        
        // Array of ReflectionMethod Objects
        // is being set upon instanciation
        // derived Classes don't need to know about this array
        private $arrMethods;
                
        // Constructor which MUST be called from derived Class Constructor
        protected function __construct ( $strDerivedClassName ) {
            $oRefl = new ReflectionClass ( $strDerivedClassName );
            if ( is_object($oRefl) ) {
                $this->arrMethods = $oRefl->getMethods();
            }
        }
        
        // Some abstract function
        abstract protected function D ();
        
        // Some private function
        private function E() {
        }
        
        // method to print all class/object methods
        // must be callable from derived classes
        // can be protected if only for internal class use
        public function PrintAllMethods () {
            foreach ( $this->arrMethods as $curReflectionMethod ) {
                echo $curReflectionMethod->getName()."<br>";
            }
        }
    }
    
    
    // Derived Class
    class B extends A {
        
        // Constructor for this class
        // MUST call Base Constructor
        public function __construct () {
            // Call Base Constructor
            parent::__construct(__CLASS__);
        }
        
        
        // Some public function
        public function A () {
        }
        
        // some protected function
        protected function B () {
        }
        
        // some private function
        private function C() {
        }
        
        // some abstract method from base class implemented
        protected function D () {
        }
    }
    
    
    // Create new B Object
    $b = new B();
    // Print all Methods of this Object/Class
    $b->PrintAllMethods();
?>

In this example output will be:

__construct
A
B
C
D
E
PrintAllMethods

As you can see these are all methods from class B and also all methods from Class A respectivly in order of their declaration. Note that only one method "__construct" and only one method "D" are being shown. This is due to overloading (__construct) and implementing (D) in PHP.

In this example any further method-handling methods should be implemented in the base class as these will be available in derived classes as well. Just make sure that you use the right access specifiers for these additional methods ( private, protected, public )

BoD

jazepstein at greenash dot net dot au (2005-10-16 06:37:34)

In PHP4, this function converts its return values to lowercase; but in PHP5, it leaves the return values in their original case. This can cause serious problems when trying to write code that dynamically calls a class method, and that works in both PHP4 and PHP5. This code snippet shows one way of achieving compatibility with both versions:

<?php
// Example variables - these would be dynamic in a real application.
$className = 'SomeClass';
$methodName= 'someMethod';
$args = array('arg1', 'arg2');

// Use array_map() and strtolower() to make all values returned by get_class_methods() lowercase. PHP4 does this anyway - now it will happen regardless of the PHP version being used.
$classMethods = array_map(strtolower, get_class_methods($className));

// in_array() can only handle being given an array.
if (!$classMethods) {
  $classMethods = array();
}

if (in_array(strtolower($methodName), $classMethods)) {
  // call some method
  return call_user_func_array(array($className, $methodName), $args);
}
?>

Oli Filth (2005-04-11 08:21:21)

As an extension to onesimus's code below for finding inherited methods, in PHP 5 you can use the Reflection API to find which of these are overriden.

e.g.

<?php
function get_overriden_methods($class)
{
    $rClass = new ReflectionClass($class);
    $array = NULL;
        
    foreach ($rClass->getMethods() as $rMethod)
    {
        try
        {
            // attempt to find method in parent class
            new ReflectionMethod($rClass->getParentClass()->getName(),
                                $rMethod->getName());
            // check whether method is explicitly defined in this class
            if ($rMethod->getDeclaringClass()->getName()
                == $rClass->getName())
            {
                // if so, then it is overriden, so add to array
                $array[] .=  $rMethod->getName();
            }
        }
        catch (exception $e)
        {    /* was not in parent class! */    }
    }
    
    return $array;
}
?>

kabatak (2005-02-20 05:11:40)

In PHP4, if you need to get_class_methods in their original case. You can use this simple function I created.
// Note: this function assumes that you only have 1 class in 1 file
$file = "path/to/myclass.php"
function file_get_class_methods ($file)
{
$arr = file($file);
foreach ($arr as $line)
{
if (ereg ('function ([_A-Za-z0-9]+)', $line, $regs))
$arr_methods[] = $regs[1];
}
return $arr_methods;
}

epowell at removethis dot visi dot com (2004-10-11 08:47:43)

I've figured out how to get around my issue described below, using the Reflection API.

<?
/* Pass the name of the class, not a declared handler */
function get_public_methods($className) {
    /* Init the return array */
    $returnArray = array();

    /* Iterate through each method in the class */
    foreach (get_class_methods($className) as $method) {

        /* Get a reflection object for the class method */
        $reflect = new ReflectionMethod($className, $method);

        /* For private, use isPrivate().  For protected, use isProtected() */
        /* See the Reflection API documentation for more definitions */
        if($reflect->isPublic()) {
            /* The method is one we're looking for, push it onto the return array */
            array_push($returnArray,$method);
        }
    }

    /* return the array to the caller */
    return $returnArray;
}
?>

onesimus at cox dot net (2004-06-19 02:32:43)

This function will return only the methods for the object you indicate. It will strip out the inherited methods.
function get_this_class_methods($class){
$array1 = get_class_methods($class);
if($parent_class = get_parent_class($class)){
$array2 = get_class_methods($parent_class);
$array3 = array_diff($array1, $array2);
}else{
$array3 = $array1;
}
return($array3);
}

gk at proliberty dot com (2003-06-01 16:16:20)

It is important to note that get_class_methods($class) returns not only methods defined by $class but also the inherited methods.
There does not appear to be any PHP function to determine which methods are inherited and which are defined explicitly by a class.

aldo at cerca dot com (2002-04-21 22:18:21)

If you use "get_class_methods" to check if a Method is in a Class remember that the function return lowered name of class methods:
class classPippo
{
function DummyFunct()
{
// Do nothing...
}
}
$aClassMethods = get_class_methods(classPippo);
$sMethodName = 'DummyFunct';
// This not work...
if (in_array($sMethodName, $aClassMethods))
classPippo::DummyFunct();
// This work...
if (in_array(strtolower($sMethodName), $aClassMethods))
classPippo::DummyFunct();

matt at zevi dot net (2002-03-21 16:46:38)

Win32 only:
It's probably worth noting here that you can't get the methods of an object created by the built-in 'COM' class. ie - this won't work:
$word = new COM('Word.Application');
$methods = get_class_methods(get_class($word));
print_r($methods);
Matt