Below three examples describe anonymous class with very simple and basic but quite understandable example
// First way - anonymous class assigned directly to variable
$ano_class_obj = new class{
    public $prop1 = 'hello';
    public $prop2 = 754;
    const SETT = 'some config';
    public function getValue()
        // do some operation
        return 'some returned value';
    public function getValueWithArgu($str)
        // do some operation
        return 'returned value is '.$str;
echo "\n";
var_dump($ano_class_obj);
echo "\n";
echo $ano_class_obj->prop1;
echo "\n";
echo $ano_class_obj->prop2;
echo "\n";
echo $ano_class_obj::SETT;
echo "\n";
echo $ano_class_obj->getValue();
echo "\n";
echo $ano_class_obj->getValueWithArgu('OOP');
echo "\n";
echo "\n";
// Second way - anonymous class assigned to variable via defined function
$ano_class_obj_with_func = ano_func();
function ano_func()
    return new class {
        public $prop1 = 'hello';
        public $prop2 = 754;
        const SETT = 'some config';
        public function getValue()
            // do some operation
            return 'some returned value';
        public function getValueWithArgu($str)
            // do some operation
            return 'returned value is '.$str;
echo "\n";
var_dump($ano_class_obj_with_func);
echo "\n";
echo $ano_class_obj_with_func->prop1;
echo "\n";
echo $ano_class_obj_with_func->prop2;
echo "\n";
echo $ano_class_obj_with_func::SETT;
echo "\n";
echo $ano_class_obj_with_func->getValue();
echo "\n";
echo $ano_class_obj_with_func->getValueWithArgu('OOP');
echo "\n";
echo "\n";
// Third way - passing argument to anonymous class via constructors
$arg = 1; // we got it by some operation
$config = [2, false]; // we got it by some operation
$ano_class_obj_with_arg = ano_func_with_arg($arg, $config);
function ano_func_with_arg($arg, $config)
    return new class($arg, $config) {
        public $prop1 = 'hello';
        public $prop2 = 754;
        public $prop3, $config;
        const SETT = 'some config';
        public function __construct($arg, $config)
            $this->prop3 = $arg;
            $this->config =$config;
        public function getValue()
            // do some operation
            return 'some returned value';
        public function getValueWithArgu($str)
            // do some operation
            return 'returned value is '.$str;
echo "\n";
var_dump($ano_class_obj_with_arg);
echo "\n";
echo $ano_class_obj_with_arg->prop1;
echo "\n";
echo $ano_class_obj_with_arg->prop2;
echo "\n";
echo $ano_class_obj_with_arg::SETT;
echo "\n";
echo $ano_class_obj_with_arg->getValue();
echo "\n";
echo $ano_class_obj_with_arg->getValueWithArgu('OOP');
echo "\n";
echo "\n";

Anonymous classes are syntax sugar that may appear deceiving to some.
The 'anonymous' class is still parsed into the global scope, where it is auto assigned a name, and every time the class is needed, that global class definition is used.  Example to illustrate....
The anonymous class version...
function return_anon(){
    return new class{
         public static $str="foo";  
$test=return_anon();
echo $test::$str; //ouputs foo
//we can still access the 'anon' class directly in the global scope! 
$another=get_class($test); //get the auto assigned name
echo $another::$str;    //outputs foo
The above is functionally the same as doing this....
class I_named_this_one{
    public static $str="foo";
function return_not_anon(){
    return 'I_named_this_one';
$clzz=return_not_anon();//get class name
echo $clzz::$str;
  sebastian.wasser at gmail ¶
7 years ago
I wanted to share my findings on static properties of anonymous classes.
So, given an anonymous class' object generating function like this:
function nc () {
    return new class {
        public static $prop = [];
Getting a new object and changing the static property:
$a = nc();
$a::$prop[] = 'a';
var_dump($a::$prop);
// array(1) {
//   [0] =>
//   string(1) "a"
Now getting another object and changing the static property will change the original one, meaning that the static property is truly static:
$b = nc();
$b::$prop[] = 'b';
var_dump($b::$prop); // Same as var_dump($a::$prop);
// array(2) {
//   [0] =>
//   string(1) "a"
//   [1] =>
//   string(1) "b"
assert($a::$prop === $b::$prop); // true
/* I like the idea of OneShot classes.
Thanks to that Anonymous bro\sist for precising   
new class( $a, $b )
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
If you are looking for "Delayed OneShot Anonymous Classes" for any reason (like the reason: loading files in a readable manner while not using autoload), it would probably look something like this; */
$u = function()use(&$u){
    $u = new class{private $name = 'Utils';};
$w = function(&$rewrite)use(&$w){
    $w = null;
    $rewrite = new class{private $name = 'DataUtils';};
// Usage;
var_dump(
    array(
        'Delayed',
        '( Self Destructive )',
        'Anonymous Class Creation',
        array(
            'Before ( $u )' => $u,
            'Running ( $u() )' => $u(),
            'After ( $u )' => $u,
        'Delayed',
        '( Overwriting && Self Destructive )',
        'Anonymous Class Creation',
        array(
            'Before ( $w )' => $w,
            'Running ( $w($u) )' => $w($u),
            'After ( $w )' => $w,
            'After ( $u )' => $u
// btw : oh shoot I failed a spam challenge
The only way to type hint this would appear to be as object.
If you need multiple instances of an anonymous class in a function you can use:
$class = function(string $arg):object {
    return new class($arg) {
        public function __construct(string $arg) {
            $this->ow = $arg;
Though for the sake of structure it's ill advised to do something like this outside of a single scope or that's used across multiple files. If you class is only used in one scope however then it's probably not a code mess problem.
  ismaelj+php at hotmail dot com ¶
1 year ago
Thanks to the new property hooks in PHP 8.4 (https://wiki.php.net/rfc/property-hooks) and anonymous functions, now we can create an inner class instantiated only on use:
class BaseClass {
  public function __construct() { echo "base class\n"; }
  public $childClass  { set {}  get {
    if ($this->childClass === null ) {
      $this->childClass = new class {
        public function __construct() { echo "  child class\n"; }
        public function say(string $s) : void { echo "     $s\n"; }
    return $this->childClass;
$base = new BaseClass();
$base->childClass->say('Hello');
$base->childClass->say('World');
Output:
base class
  child class
     Hello
     World
The obvious downside is that you can't set a type to the child class, unless  you define an interface and the child class implements it or if the child class extends an existing class:
class ParentClass {
  public function say(string $s) : void { echo "     $s\n"; }
class BaseClass {
  public function __construct() { echo "base class\n"; }
  public ParentClass $childClass { set {}  get {
    if (!isset($this->childClass)) {
      $this->childClass = new class extends ParentClass {
        public function __construct() { echo "  child class\n"; }
    return $this->childClass;
$base = new BaseClass();
$base->childClass->say('Hello');
$base->childClass->say('World');
Output:
base class
  child class
     Hello
     World
This can be also done with functions, but  with hooks to me looks more like in other languages that have this functionality natively.
  piotr at maslosoft dot com ¶
9 years ago
Please note that class name returned by `get_class` might contain null bytes, as is the case in my version of PHP (7.1.4). 
Name will change when class starting line or it's body is changed.
Yes, name is implementation detail that should not be relied upon, but in some rare use cases it is required (annotating anonymous class).
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