Autoload won't trigger when using instanceof/is_a

[RV7PR]

Description

<?php
spl_autoload_register(function($class) {
    print_r('loading: ' . $class . PHP_EOL);
    if ($class === 'framework\notAlreadyLoaded') {
        class_alias(stdClass::class, 'framework\notAlreadyLoaded');
    }
});
print_r(is_a(new stdClass(), framework\notAlreadyLoadedl::class) . PHP_EOL);
print_r(new stdClass() instanceof framework\notAlreadyLoaded);

Autoloader isn't called probably because it assumes the class is already loaded.
But I have some deprecated classes and i use class_alias inside my autoloader.

PHP Version

PHP 8.4.3

Operating System

No response

[iluuu1994]

Autoloader isn't called probably because it assumes the class is already loaded.

Precisely, because (ignoring class aliases) you cannot have an instance of an unloaded class. Triggering the autoloader would actually be breaking, because you may currently check for classes that don't even exist, e.g. from libraries that are optional.

You can probably place the class_alias() next to the declaring class, and then create a file for the alias that just require_onces the actual definition. This will work for both class names.

[RV7PR]

Thanks for the feedback. I found a workaround that still uses 1 array with class aliases so I will close this now.