self points to the class in which it is written. So, if your getInstance method is in a class name MyClass, the following line : self::$_instance = new self(); Will do the same as : self::$_instance = new MyClass(); Edit : a
couple more informations, after the comments. If you have two classes that extend each other, you have two situations : getInstance is defined in the child class getInstance is defined in the parent class The first situation would look like this (I've removed
all non-necessary code, for this example -- you'll have to add it back to get the singleton behavior)* :
class MyParentClass { }
class MyChildClass extends MyParentClass {
public static function getInstance() { return new self(); }
}
$a = MyChildClass::getInstance();
var_dump($a);
Here, you'll get : object(MyChildClass)#1 (0) { } Which means self means MyChildClass -- i.e. the class in which it is written.
For the second situation, the code would look like this :
class MyParentClass {
public static function getInstance() { return new self(); }
}
class MyChildClass extends MyParentClass { }
$a = MyChildClass::getInstance();
var_dump($a);
And you'd get this kind of output : object(MyParentClass)#1 (0) { } Which means self means MyParentClass -- i.e. here too, the class in which it is written.
With PHP < 5.3, that "the class in which it is written" is important -- and can sometimes cause problems. That's why PHP 5.3 introduces a new usage for the static keyword : it can now be used exactly where we used self in those examples :
class MyParentClass {
public static function getInstance() { return new static(); }
}
class MyChildClass extends MyParentClass { }
$a = MyChildClass::getInstance();
var_dump($a);
But, with static instead of self, you'll now get : object(MyChildClass)#1 (0) { } Which means that static sort of points to the class that is used (we used MyChildClass::getInstance()), and not the one in which it is written. Of course, the
behavior of self has not been changed, to not break existing applications -- PHP 5.3 just added a new behavior, recycling the static keyword. And, speaking about PHP 5.3, you might want to take a look at the Late Static Bindings page of the PHP manual.