#33361 [Opn->WFx]: $this in static context

ID: 33361 Updated by: tony2001@php.net Reported By: halmai at nexum dot hu -Status: Open +Status: Wont fix Bug Type: Feature/Change Request Operating System: Linux PHP Version: 4.3.10 New Comment: As this is not a bug, it won't be changed in 4.3/4.4, because this is a bugfix-only branch. Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2005-06-16 13:52:03] halmai at nexum dot hu Sorry, I forgot to reopen the state of this report. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2005-06-16 13:39:24] halmai at nexum dot hu I know that this is not a bug. This is a feature, but a really silly and useless feature. That's why I reported it as a "feature/change request". ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2005-06-16 13:28:24] johannes@php.net Thank you for taking the time to write to us, but this is not a bug. Please double-check the documentation available at http://www.php.net/manual/ and the instructions on how to report a bug at http://bugs.php.net/how-to-report.php . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2005-06-16 13:14:55] halmai at nexum dot hu Description: ------------ I have two classes with one function respectively. In any function the variable $this should mean - the instance of the class if this function was called as a function of an instance of _that_ class, and - it should be undefined (null) if called as a static function. My problem is that if I call a static function of a class A from a non-static function of class B then in the member function of class A the variable $this denotes the instance of the class B instead of being null. The fact that in a function of class A the variable $this denotes an instance of class B is really confusing. If it was called statically then $this should be null. I know that this is described as normal behaviour but I think this is a useless and senseless feature. In case of accepting my suggestion it would be easy to decide whether a function was called in a static or non-static context. Reproduce code: --------------- class A { function what_am_i() { if ( $this === null ) { print "i am not an instance<br>"; } else { print "i am an instance from the class '".get_class( $this )."'.<br>"; } } } class B { function wrapper() { A::what_am_i(); } } A::what_am_i(); // i am not an instance (this is OK) $a = new A(); $a -> what_am_i(); // i am an instance from the class 'a'. (this is OK) $b = new B(); $b -> wrapper(); // i am an instance from the class 'b'. (this should output not an instance) Expected result: ---------------- i am not an instance i am an instance from the class 'a'. i am not an instance Actual result: -------------- i am not an instance i am an instance from the class 'a'. i am an instance from the class 'b'. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Edit this bug report at http://bugs.php.net/?id=33361&edit=1