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13 years ago

stdClass is the default PHP object. stdClass has no properties, methods or parent. It does not support magic methods, and implements no interfaces.

When you cast a scalar or array as Object, you get an instance of stdClass. You can use stdClass whenever you need a generic object instance.
<?php
// ways of creating stdClass instances
$x = new stdClass;
$y = (object) null;        // same as above
$z = (object) 'a';         // creates property 'scalar' = 'a'
$a = (object) array('property1' => 1, 'property2' => 'b');
?>

stdClass is NOT a base class! PHP classes do not automatically inherit from any class. All classes are standalone, unless they explicitly extend another class. PHP differs from many object-oriented languages in this respect.
<?php
// CTest does not derive from stdClass
class CTest {
    public $property1;
}
$t = new CTest;
var_dump($t instanceof stdClass);            // false
var_dump(is_subclass_of($t, 'stdClass'));    // false
echo get_class($t) . "\n";                   // 'CTest'
echo get_parent_class($t) . "\n";            // false (no parent)
?>

You cannot define a class named 'stdClass' in your code. That name is already used by the system. You can define a class named 'Object'.

You could define a class that extends stdClass, but you would get no benefit, as stdClass does nothing.

(tested on PHP 5.2.8)
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