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I really hate to write this question because I'm kind-of "research guy" and, well, I always find what I'm searching for... But this one bugs me a lot and I can't find the answer anywhere... So, here it goes:

As the title says I need to get a method name with the trailing class and namespace path as a string. I mean something like this: "System\Language\Text::loadLanguageCache". As we know, you can get a class name (with full namespace path) by typing, i.e.: Text::class and it returns "System\Language\Text", but is there a way to get this for a method? Something like: Text::loadLanguageCache::function to get string: "System\Language\Text::loadLanguageCache"?

Edit:

I think I should explain this further... I know about magic constant __METHOD__ but the problem is that it works inside the called method and I need this "outside the method". Take this as example:

//in System\Helpers
function someFunction()
{ return __METHOD__; }

That's all OK with this if I call the function I'll get (let's assume that method is in System\Helpers class) - "System\Helpers::someFunction". But what I want is this:

//in System\Helpers
function someFunction()
{ //some code... whatever }

// somewhere not in System\Helpers
function otherFunction()
{
    $thatFunctionName = Helpers::someFunction::method //That imaginary thing I want

    $thatClassName = Helpers::class; //this returns "System\Helpers"
}

I hope this cleared my question a bit :)

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  • 1
    $thatFunctionName = Helpers::someFunction::method; - that was the imaginary line, because method thing does not exist. Of course I could just type: $thatFunctionName = 'System\Helpers::someFunction'; but that is just not nice because of refactoring, possible namespace changes, class name changes and so on :) Commented Nov 30, 2013 at 16:06
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    I think the reason this wouldn't be useful is that methods rarely need to be represented in a fully-qualified form like that. For a callback, for instance, you'd use an array: [Helpers::class, 'someFunction']; and for an instance (non-static) method, a string with :: in it would be just plain wrong. So take the qualified class name and, for your purposes, append '::someFunction' as a hard-coded string, since it's hard-coded even in your imaginary syntax. Commented Nov 30, 2013 at 16:44
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    I want that whole string because I send it as an AJAX parameter and I don't want two separate strings for class and method (PHP calls it to handle request using reflection). Concatenating that string is all fine, I just thought there is kind of "nicer" way :) Commented Nov 30, 2013 at 17:09
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    i'm looking for this because i use laravel and i don't want the controller actions (what methods from what classes to call) in my routes to be expressed inside strings like 'UserController@authenticate'... using a string, i don't have the benefits of code refactoring in my IDE... would like to know if you found a way around this. Commented Dec 8, 2014 at 3:46
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    Such an underrated question. It is these fine details that make you love and adore your code. It can be much more difficult to find references to a method if you hard-code strings like that, but an equivalent of ::class as ::method instead would be such a blessing for fine code. I have not found the solution online yet that we seem to look for, but I think it can also be difficult to formulate this issue--specifically--as a simple, searchable question. Any luck, 6 years later? Commented Nov 21, 2020 at 11:02

2 Answers 2

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You must use the magic constant, you can read more about at Magic constants in php.net

__METHOD__

Outside of the class you must use Reflection as is explained at ReflectionClass documentation:

<?php
$class = new ReflectionClass('ReflectionClass');
$method = $class->getMethod('getMethod');
var_dump($method);
?>;

Returns:

object(ReflectionMethod)#2 (2) {
  ["name"]=>
  string(9) "getMethod"
  ["class"]=>
  string(15) "ReflectionClass"
}
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3 Comments

I know about this magic constant, but it works inside a method, and I need this to work "outside" the method...
Yeah, that's what I want, and I know about Reflection too. But the whole idea of a question was the simplicity, to just use Foo::someMethod::method to get that string (as easily as you can do with Foo::class). :)
But the class name not is obvious but the method yes, just $methodPath = Helpers::class . 'theMethod'; you cannot use AS in methods. :/
0

I needed this too, since putting the namespace in a string will give double backslashes, bad when renaming namespaces.

Solution extended from the remark from IMSoP here above.

Use this:

$callable = [\namespace\classname::class, 'method'];

When called:

$callable($arg1, $arg2) ;

Will be exactly like calling

\namespace\classname::method($arg1, $arg2);

For instance:

<?php

namespace xxx\yyy;

class myClass {
    
    static function methodA(string $name) {
        echo 'method A called, '.$name.'. ';
    }
    
    function methodB(string $name) {
        echo 'method B called, '.$name.'. ';
    }
}

$callableA = [myClass::class, 'methodA'];
$callableB = [new myClass, 'methodB'];

var_dump($callableA);
var_dump($callableB);

$callableA("madam");
$callableB('sir');

Results in:

array(2) {
  [0]=>
  string(15) "xxx\yyy\myClass"
  [1]=>
  string(7) "methodA"
}
array(2) {
  [0]=>
  object(xxx\yyy\myClass)#1 (0) {
  }
  [1]=>
  string(7) "methodB"
}
method A called, madam. method B called, sir.

IMSoP gave the right answer in a remark for most people who search this subject. In 11 years, they didn't bother to make it the answer, so I will, since I almost overlooked it when searching for the subject myself.

Not 100% what the OP asked for, but 100% what most people will actually need! (Since what else than a callable is why you would want the name?)

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