Name resolution rules

(PHP 5 >= 5.3.0, PHP 7, PHP 8)

For the purposes of these resolution rules, here are some important definitions:

Namespace name definitions

Unqualified name

This is an identifier without a namespace separator, such as Foo

Qualified name

This is an identifier with a namespace separator, such as Foo\Bar

Fully qualified name

This is an identifier with a namespace separator that begins with a namespace separator, such as \Foo\Bar. The namespace \Foo is also a fully qualified name.

Relative name

This is an identifier starting with namespace, such as namespace\Foo\Bar.

Names are resolved following these resolution rules:

1. Fully qualified names always resolve to the name without leading namespace separator. For instance \A\B resolves to A\B.
2. Relative names always resolve to the name with namespace replaced by the current namespace. If the name occurs in the global namespace, the namespace\ prefix is stripped. For example namespace\A inside namespace X\Y resolves to X\Y\A. The same name inside the global namespace resolves to A.
3. For qualified names the first segment of the name is translated according to the current class/namespace import table. For example, if the namespace A\B\C is imported as C, the name C\D\E is translated to A\B\C\D\E.
4. For qualified names, if no import rule applies, the current namespace is prepended to the name. For example, the name C\D\E inside namespace A\B, resolves to A\B\C\D\E.
5. For unqualified names, the name is translated according to the current import table for the respective symbol type. This means that class-like names are translated according to the class/namespace import table, function names according to the function import table and constants according to the constant import table. For example, after use A\B\C; a usage such as new C() resolves to the name A\B\C(). Similarly, after use function A\B\foo; a usage such as foo() resolves to the name A\B\foo.
6. For unqualified names, if no import rule applies and the name refers to a class-like symbol, the current namespace is prepended. For example new C() inside namespace A\B resolves to name A\B\C.
7. For unqualified names, if no import rule applies and the name refers to a function or constant and the code is outside the global namespace, the name is resolved at runtime. Assuming the code is in namespace A\B, here is how a call to function foo() is resolved:
   1. It looks for a function from the current namespace: A\B\foo().
   2. It tries to find and call the global function foo().