class_parents()

class_parents() — Return the parent classes of the given class.

Built-in function of PHP 8.5. The manual lists it as available in PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8. This page is the reference card: signature, parameters and return value, plus the changelog and the example the manual provides.

What it does

This function returns an array with the name of the parent classes of the given object_or_class.

Signature

class_parents(object|string $object_or_class, bool $autoload = true): array|false

Parameters

Parameter	Type	What it takes
$object_or_class	object\|string	An object (class instance) or a string (class name).
$autoload	bool	Whether to autoload if not already loaded.

Return value

An array on success, or false when the given class doesn't exist.

Example

A runnable snippet:

class foo { } class bar extends foo {} print_r(class_parents(new bar)); // you may also specify the parameter as a string print_r(class_parents('bar')); spl_autoload_register(); // use autoloading to load the 'not_loaded' class print_r(class_parents('not_loaded', true));

Output:

Array ( [foo] => foo ) Array ( [foo] => foo ) Array ( [parent_of_not_loaded] => parent_of_not_loaded )