What is stdClass in PHP?

Question

I have search in Google but couldn't find an answer. Please define what is stdClass.

Answer 1

stdClass is php's generic empty class, kind of like Object in Java or object in Python (Edit: but not actually used as universal base class, tx @Ciaran for pointing this out). Useful for anonymous objects, dynamic properties, &c -0- see http://www.krisjordan.com/2008/11/27/dynamic-properties-in-php-with-stdclass/ for example.

Answer 2

Despite what the other two answers say, stdClass is not the base class for objects in PHP. This can be demonstrated fairly easily:

class Foo{}
$foo = new Foo();
echo ($foo instanceof stdClass)?'Y':'N';
// outputs 'N'

stdClass is instead just a generic 'empty' class that's used when casting other types to objects. I don't believe there's a concept of a base object in PHP

Answer 3

Likewise,

$myNewObj->setNewVar = 'newVal'; 

yields a stdClass object - auto casted

I found this out today by misspelling:

$GLOBASLS['myObj']->myPropertyObj->myProperty = 'myVal';

Cool!