Class

The Class component provides type-safe wrappers around PHP's built-in class reflection and existence checks. It replaces loose class_exists() calls with a consistent, intention-revealing API and adds helpers for inspecting class properties.

Why Use This?

PHP's native class_exists() accepts a second argument to control autoloading, which is easy to forget or misuse. PSL separates that choice into two distinct functions -- exists() (triggers autoloading) and defined() (checks only already-loaded definitions) -- so the intent is always clear.

Usage

Checking Existence

@example('other/reflection-exists.php')

Inspecting Classes

@example('other/reflection-inspect.php')

Practical Example

Guard a factory method against invalid input:

@example('other/reflection-factory.php')

See src/Psl/Class/ for the full API.