PHP check for instance of DateTime?

Question

Is this the only way to check if an object is an instance of a class, in my case of the DateTime class?

$cls = ReflectionClass("DateTime");
if (! $cls->isInstance( (object) $var ) ) {
    // is not an instance
}

It seems a bit heavy to me.

See as well: [How to know what class is an object instance of? (php5)](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1928491/how-to-know-what-class-is-an-object-instance-of-php5) (Not really a duplicate) — hakre, Mar 05 '12 at 15:48

score 159 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 14 '14 at 06:32

159

if ($var instanceof DateTime) {
  // true
}

if (is_a($var, 'DateTime')) {
  // true
}

edited Apr 14 '14 at 06:32

Baby

answered Mar 05 '12 at 15:03

fire

6

Man, I didn't find anything about that one with google .. :/ Thank you! – Niklas R Mar 05 '12 at 15:06

score 10 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 05 '12 at 15:03

10

if ($var instanceof DateTime)

answered Mar 05 '12 at 15:03

Distdev

score 7 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 05 '12 at 15:08

7

You can use get_class function like this:

<?php

    $a = new DateTime();
    if (get_class($a) == 'DateTime') {
        echo "Datetime";
    }

answered Mar 05 '12 at 15:08

botzko

5

@redolent If you are using Symfony or some other framework that uses namespaces, you may need to declare `use \DateTime` at the top of your file to make it look for `DateTime` in the root namespace (not your app's namespace). – Chadwick Meyer Jul 21 '14 at 21:50

score 5 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 05 '12 at 15:06

5

What about instanceof

answered Mar 05 '12 at 15:06

rkosegi

4 Answers4