PHP and Enumerations

Question

I know that PHP doesn't have native Enumerations. But I have become accustomed to them from the Java world. I would love to use enums as a way to give predefined values which IDEs' auto completion features could understand.

Constants do the trick, but there's the namespace collision problem and (or actually because) they're global. Arrays don't have the namespace problem, but they're too vague, they can be overwritten at runtime and IDEs rarely (never?) know how to autofill their keys.

Are there any solutions/workarounds you commonly use? Does anyone recall whether the PHP guys have had any thoughts or decisions around enums?

Answer 1

I know this is an old thread, however none of the workarounds I've seen really looked like enums, since almost all workarounds requires you to manually assign values to the enum items, or it requires you to pass an array of enum keys to a function. So I created my own solution for this.

To create an enum class using my solution one can simply extend this Enum class below, create a bunch of static variables (no need to initialize them), and make a call to yourEnumClass::init() just below the definition of your enum class.

edit: This only works in php >= 5.3, but it can probably be modified to work in older versions as well

/**
 * A base class for enums. 
 * 
 * This class can be used as a base class for enums. 
 * It can be used to create regular enums (incremental indices), but it can also be used to create binary flag values.
 * To create an enum class you can simply extend this class, and make a call to <yourEnumClass>::init() before you use the enum.
 * Preferably this call is made directly after the class declaration. 
 * Example usages:
 * DaysOfTheWeek.class.php
 * abstract class DaysOfTheWeek extends Enum{
 *      static $MONDAY = 1;
 *      static $TUESDAY;
 *      static $WEDNESDAY;
 *      static $THURSDAY;
 *      static $FRIDAY;
 *      static $SATURDAY;
 *      static $SUNDAY;
 * }
 * DaysOfTheWeek::init();
 * 
 * example.php
 * require_once("DaysOfTheWeek.class.php");
 * $today = date('N');
 * if ($today == DaysOfTheWeek::$SUNDAY || $today == DaysOfTheWeek::$SATURDAY)
 *      echo "It's weekend!";
 * 
 * Flags.class.php
 * abstract class Flags extends Enum{
 *      static $FLAG_1;
 *      static $FLAG_2;
 *      static $FLAG_3;
 * }
 * Flags::init(Enum::$BINARY_FLAG);
 * 
 * example2.php
 * require_once("Flags.class.php");
 * $flags = Flags::$FLAG_1 | Flags::$FLAG_2;
 * if ($flags & Flags::$FLAG_1)
 *      echo "Flag_1 is set";
 * 
 * @author Tiddo Langerak
 */
abstract class Enum{

    static $BINARY_FLAG = 1;
    /**
     * This function must be called to initialize the enumeration!
     * 
     * @param bool $flags If the USE_BINARY flag is provided, the enum values will be binary flag values. Default: no flags set.
     */ 
    public static function init($flags = 0){
        //First, we want to get a list of all static properties of the enum class. We'll use the ReflectionClass for this.
        $enum = get_called_class();
        $ref = new ReflectionClass($enum);
        $items = $ref->getStaticProperties();
        //Now we can start assigning values to the items. 
        if ($flags & self::$BINARY_FLAG){
            //If we want binary flag values, our first value should be 1.
            $value = 1;
            //Now we can set the values for all items.
            foreach ($items as $key=>$item){
                if (!isset($item)){                 
                    //If no value is set manually, we should set it.
                    $enum::$$key = $value;
                    //And we need to calculate the new value
                    $value *= 2;
                } else {
                    //If there was already a value set, we will continue starting from that value, but only if that was a valid binary flag value.
                    //Otherwise, we will just skip this item.
                    if ($key != 0 && ($key & ($key - 1) == 0))
                        $value = 2 * $item;
                }
            }
        } else {
            //If we want to use regular indices, we'll start with index 0.
            $value = 0;
            //Now we can set the values for all items.
            foreach ($items as $key=>$item){
                if (!isset($item)){
                    //If no value is set manually, we should set it, and increment the value for the next item.
                    $enum::$$key = $value;
                    $value++;
                } else {
                    //If a value was already set, we'll continue from that value.
                    $value = $item+1;
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Answer 2

One of the aspects missing from some of the other answers here is a way to use enums with type hinting.

If you define your enum as a set of constants in an abstract class, e.g.

abstract class ShirtSize {
    public const SMALL = 1;
    public const MEDIUM = 2;
    public const LARGE = 3;
}

then you can't type hint it in a function parameter - for one, because it's not instantiable, but also because the type of ShirtSize::SMALL is int, not ShirtSize.

That's why native enums in PHP would be so much better than anything we can come up with. However, we can approximate an enum by keeping a private property which represents the value of the enum, and then restricting the initialization of this property to our predefined constants. To prevent the enum from being instantiated arbitrarily (without the overhead of type-checking a whitelist), we make the constructor private.

class ShirtSize {
    private $size;
    private function __construct ($size) {
        $this->size = $size;
    }
    public function equals (ShirtSize $s) {
        return $this->size === $s->size;
    }
    public static function SMALL () { return new self(1); }
    public static function MEDIUM () { return new self(2); }
    public static function LARGE () { return new self(3); }
}

Then we can use ShirtSize like this:

function sizeIsAvailable ($productId, ShirtSize $size) {
    // business magic
}
if(sizeIsAvailable($_GET["id"], ShirtSize::LARGE())) {
    echo "Available";
} else {
    echo "Out of stock.";
}
$s2 = ShirtSize::SMALL();
$s3 = ShirtSize::MEDIUM();
echo $s2->equals($s3) ? "SMALL == MEDIUM" : "SMALL != MEDIUM";

This way, the biggest difference from the user's perspective is that you have to tack on a () on the constant's name.

One downside though is that === (which compares object equality) will return false when == returns true. For that reason, it's best to provide an equals method, so that users don't have to remember to use == and not === to compare two enum values.

EDIT: A couple of the existing answers are very similar, particularly: https://stackoverflow.com/a/25526473/2407870.

Answer 3

It might be as simple as

enum DaysOfWeek {
    Sunday,
    Monday,
    // ...
}

in the future.

PHP RFC: Enumerated Types

Answer 4

class DayOfWeek {
    static $values = array(
        self::MONDAY,
        self::TUESDAY,
        // ...
    );

    const MONDAY  = 0;
    const TUESDAY = 1;
    // ...
}

$today = DayOfWeek::MONDAY;

// If you want to check if a value is valid
assert( in_array( $today, DayOfWeek::$values ) );

Don't use reflection. It makes it extremely difficult to reason about your code and track down where something is being used, and tends to break static analysis tools (eg what's built into your IDE).

Answer 5

Here is a github library for handling type-safe enumerations in php:

This library handle classes generation, classes caching and it implements the Type Safe Enumeration design pattern, with several helper methods for dealing with enums, like retrieving an ordinal for enums sorting, or retrieving a binary value, for enums combinations.

The generated code use a plain old php template file, which is also configurable, so you can provide your own template.

It is full test covered with phpunit.

php-enums on github (feel free to fork)

Usage: (@see usage.php, or unit tests for more details)

<?php
//require the library
require_once __DIR__ . '/src/Enum.func.php';

//if you don't have a cache directory, create one
@mkdir(__DIR__ . '/cache');
EnumGenerator::setDefaultCachedClassesDir(__DIR__ . '/cache');

//Class definition is evaluated on the fly:
Enum('FruitsEnum', array('apple' , 'orange' , 'rasberry' , 'bannana'));

//Class definition is cached in the cache directory for later usage:
Enum('CachedFruitsEnum', array('apple' , 'orange' , 'rasberry' , 'bannana'), '\my\company\name\space', true);

echo 'FruitsEnum::APPLE() == FruitsEnum::APPLE(): ';
var_dump(FruitsEnum::APPLE() == FruitsEnum::APPLE()) . "\n";

echo 'FruitsEnum::APPLE() == FruitsEnum::ORANGE(): ';
var_dump(FruitsEnum::APPLE() == FruitsEnum::ORANGE()) . "\n";

echo 'FruitsEnum::APPLE() instanceof Enum: ';
var_dump(FruitsEnum::APPLE() instanceof Enum) . "\n";

echo 'FruitsEnum::APPLE() instanceof FruitsEnum: ';
var_dump(FruitsEnum::APPLE() instanceof FruitsEnum) . "\n";

echo "->getName()\n";
foreach (FruitsEnum::iterator() as $enum)
{
  echo "  " . $enum->getName() . "\n";
}

echo "->getValue()\n";
foreach (FruitsEnum::iterator() as $enum)
{
  echo "  " . $enum->getValue() . "\n";
}

echo "->getOrdinal()\n";
foreach (CachedFruitsEnum::iterator() as $enum)
{
  echo "  " . $enum->getOrdinal() . "\n";
}

echo "->getBinary()\n";
foreach (CachedFruitsEnum::iterator() as $enum)
{
  echo "  " . $enum->getBinary() . "\n";
}

Output:

FruitsEnum::APPLE() == FruitsEnum::APPLE(): bool(true)
FruitsEnum::APPLE() == FruitsEnum::ORANGE(): bool(false)
FruitsEnum::APPLE() instanceof Enum: bool(true)
FruitsEnum::APPLE() instanceof FruitsEnum: bool(true)
->getName()
  APPLE
  ORANGE
  RASBERRY
  BANNANA
->getValue()
  apple
  orange
  rasberry
  bannana
->getValue() when values have been specified
  pig
  dog
  cat
  bird
->getOrdinal()
  1
  2
  3
  4
->getBinary()
  1
  2
  4
  8

Answer 6

The accepted answer is the way to go and is actually what I am doing for simplicity. Most advantages of enumeration are offered (readable, fast, etc.). One concept is missing, however: type safety. In most languages, enumerations are also used to restrict allowed values. Below is an example of how type safety can also be obtained by using private constructors, static instantiation methods and type checking:

class DaysOfWeek{
 const Sunday = 0;
 const Monday = 1;
 // etc.

 private $intVal;
 private function __construct($intVal){
   $this->intVal = $intVal;
 }

 //static instantiation methods
 public static function MONDAY(){
   return new self(self::Monday);
 }
 //etc.
}

//function using type checking
function printDayOfWeek(DaysOfWeek $d){ //compiler can now use type checking
  // to something with $d...
}

//calling the function is safe!
printDayOfWeek(DaysOfWeek::MONDAY());

We could even go further: using constants in the DaysOfWeek class might lead to misusage: e.g. one might mistakenly use it this way:

printDayOfWeek(DaysOfWeek::Monday); //triggers a compiler error.

which is wrong (calls integer constant). We can prevent this using private static variables instead of constants:

class DaysOfWeeks{

  private static $monday = 1;
  //etc.

  private $intVal;
  //private constructor
  private function __construct($intVal){
    $this->intVal = $intVal;
  }

  //public instantiation methods
  public static function MONDAY(){
    return new self(self::$monday);
  }
  //etc.


  //convert an instance to its integer value
  public function intVal(){
    return $this->intVal;
  }

}

Of course, it is not possible to access integer constants (this was actually the purpose). The intVal method allows to convert a DaysOfWeek object to its integer representation.

Note that we could even go further by implementing a caching mechanism in instantiation methods to save memory in the case enumerations are extensively used...

Hope this will help