<?php #Example #1 Defining and using a constant class MyClass { const CONSTANT = 'constant value'; function showConstant() { echo self::CONSTANT . "\n"; } } echo MyClass::CONSTANT . "\n"; $classname = "MyClass"; echo $classname::CONSTANT . "\n"; // As of PHP 5.3.0 $class = new MyClass(); $class->showConstant(); echo $class::CONSTANT . "\n"; // As of PHP 5.3.0