Checks whether the object is of a given type or subtype
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    is_a

    (PHP 4 >= 4.2.0, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)

    is_a — Checks whether the object is of a given type or subtype

    Description

    is_a(mixed $object_or_class, string $class, bool $allow_string = false): bool

    Determines if the given object_or_class is the class object type, or has class as one of its supertypes.

    Parameters

    object_or_class

    A class name or an object instance.

    class

    The class or interface name

    allow_string

    If this parameter set to false, string class name as object_or_class is not allowed. This also prevents from calling autoloader if the class doesn't exist.

    Return Values

    Returns true if object_or_class is the class object type, or has class as one of its supertypes, false otherwise.

    Examples

    Example #1 is_a() example

    <?php// define a classclass WidgetFactory{  var $oink = 'moo';}// create a new object$WF = new WidgetFactory();if (is_a($WF, 'WidgetFactory')) {  echo "yes, \$WF is still a WidgetFactory\n";}?>

    Example #2 Using the instanceof operator

    <?phpif ($WF instanceof WidgetFactory) {    echo 'Yes, $WF is a WidgetFactory';}?>

    See Also

    • get_class() - Returns the name of the class of an object
    • get_parent_class() - Retrieves the parent class name for object or class
    • is_subclass_of() - Checks if the object has this class as one of its parents or implements it