is_a

(PHP 4 >= 4.2.0, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)

is_aChecks whether the object is of a given type or subtype

Description

is_a(mixed $object_or_class, string $class, bool $allow_string = false): bool

Determines if the given object_or_class is the class object type, or has class as one of its supertypes.

Parameters

object_or_class

A class name or an object instance.

class

The class or interface name

allow_string

If this parameter set to false, string class name as object_or_class is not allowed. This also prevents from calling autoloader if the class doesn't exist.

Return Values

Returns true if object_or_class is the class object type, or has class as one of its supertypes, false otherwise.

Examples

Example #1 is_a() example

<?php
// define a class
class WidgetFactory
{
var
$oink = 'moo';
}

// create a new object
$WF = new WidgetFactory();

if (
is_a($WF, 'WidgetFactory')) {
echo
"yes, \$WF is still a WidgetFactory\n";
}
?>

Example #2 Using the instanceof operator

<?php
if ($WF instanceof WidgetFactory) {
echo
'Yes, $WF is a WidgetFactory';
}
?>

See Also

  • get_class() - Returns the name of the class of an object
  • get_parent_class() - Retrieves the parent class name for object or class
  • is_subclass_of() - Checks if the object has this class as one of its parents or implements it