Can a class instance self-destruct?

Question

Is it possible for a PHP object instance to destroy/unset itself? Say I had a class that represented a file, and then I subsequently delete that file using the class. Can I somehow unset the instance from within one of its own methods?

$file = new FileClass();

$file->copy('/some/new/path/');
$file->delete();

// ... at this point $file would be seen as unset.

Answer 1

That's the only solution I can think of:

function delete($var_name) {
   unset($GLOBALS[$var_name]);
}

Then you do:

$file->delete('file');

Answer 2

No, it is not possible to destruct a class from within which is illogical. unset($this) will not work (at least not as expected).

Why don't you use

unset($file);

and define a __destruct function in which you perform the tasks you would normally perform in delete?