PHP Class throws an error, what is wrong

Question

I have the class.

Class User {

    private $_name;
    private $_email;

    public static function factory() {
        return new __CLASS__;
    }

    public function test() {

    }
}

and when i make a static method call using the syntax below.

User::factory();

it throws me following syntax error.

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_CLASS_C in htdocs/test/index.php on line 8

the error is being thrown because the Static factory() method is unable to create the object during the static method call.

and when i change the magic constant __CLASSS__ to the name of the current class i.e to User then it works.

what am i missing?

Answer 1

Try:

Class User {

    private $_name;
    private $_email;

    public static function factory() {
            $class = __CLASS__;
            return new $class;
    }

    public function test() {

    }
}

Answer 2

Not really sure why your example doesn't works. But what does work is:

public static function factory()
{
    return new self();
}

Answer 3

Try this:

$class = __CLASS__;
return new $class;