(PHP 5 >= 5.3.0, PHP 7)
Without any namespace definition, all class and function definitions are placed into the global space - as it was in PHP before namespaces were supported. Prefixing a name with \ will specify that the name is required from the global space even in the context of the namespace.
Example #1 Using global space specification
<?php
namespace A\B\C;
/* This function is A\B\C\fopen */
function fopen() {
/* ... */
$f = \fopen(...); // call global fopen
return $f;
}
?>
Included files will default to the global namespace.
<?php
//test.php
namespace test {
include 'test1.inc';
echo '-',__NAMESPACE__,'-<br />';
}
?>
<?php
//test1.inc
echo '-',__NAMESPACE__,'-<br />';
?>
Results of test.php:
--
-test-
In namespaced context the Exception class needs to be prefixed with global prefix operator.
<?php
namespace hey\ho\lets\go;
class MyClass
{
public function failToCatch()
{
try {
$thing = somethingThrowingAnException();
} catch (Exception $ex) {
// Not catched
}
}
public function succeedToCatch()
{
try {
$thing = somethingThrowingAnException();
} catch (\Exception $ex) {
// This is now catched
}
}
}
This design of access globe name is bad, at least inconvenient.
In case that you have some legacy code, and try to copy and re-use it under some namespace. You have to add prefix "\" on any global function call.
That's the expected behavior, you have to declare the namespace at the top of the file to "extend" it.
If you include a global namespaced file, it will operate on the global namespace.
