PHP Manual: get_parent

Description

string get_parent_class ( [mixed obj] )

If obj is an object, returns the name of the parent class of the class of which obj is an instance.

If obj is a string, returns the name of the parent class of the class with that name. This functionality was added in PHP 4.0.5.

Note: Since PHP 5, obj is optional if called from the object's method. If called without parameter outside object, this function returns FALSE (or NULL with a warning before PHP 5.1.0).

Example 1. Using get_parent_class()

<?php

class dad {
    function dad() 
    {
    // implements some logic
    }
}

class child extends dad {
    function child() 
    {
        echo "I'm " , get_parent_class($this) , "'s son\n";
    }
}

class child2 extends dad {
    function child2() 
    {
        echo "I'm " , get_parent_class('child2') , "'s son too\n";
    }
}

$foo = new child();
$bar = new child2();

?>

The above example will output:

I'm dad's son
I'm dad's son too