forward_static_call()

forward_static_call() — Call a callback while preserving the current called class.

Built-in function of PHP 8.5. The manual lists it as available in PHP 5 >= 5.3.0, 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

Calls a user defined function or method given by the callback parameter, with the following arguments. This function must be called within a method context, it can't be used outside a class. When calling a method callback, it makes a forwarding call, so static:: inside the method resolves to the same called class as in the caller. This is useful for static method callbacks that should behave like self:: or parent::.

Signature

forward_static_call(callable $callback, mixed ...$args): mixed

Parameters

Parameter	Type	What it takes
$callback	callable	The function or method to be called. This parameter may be an array, with the name of the class, and the method, or a string, with a function name.
...$args	mixed	Zero or more parameters to be passed to the callback.

Return value

Returns the function result, or false on error.

Example

A runnable snippet:

class A { const NAME = 'A'; public static function test() { $args = func_get_args(); echo static::NAME, " ".join(',', $args)." \n"; } } class B extends A { const NAME = 'B'; public static function test() { echo self::NAME, "\n"; forward_static_call(array('A', 'test'), 'more', 'args'); forward_static_call( 'test', 'other', 'args'); } } B::test('foo'); function test() { $args = func_get_args(); echo "C ".join(',', $args)." \n"; }

Output:

B B more,args C other,args