Is it possible to use new as a method name in PHP 5.3?

I'm jealous of Ruby with their use of "new" as a method. Is it possible to achieve this in PHP 5.3 with 开发者_JS百科the use of namespaces?

class Foo
{
     public function new()
     {
         echo 'Hello';
     }
}

as you can see here, "new" is on the list of the reserved words, so you cannot use it to name a method.

You cannot use any of the following words as constants, class names, function or method names

No. Like already pointed out elsewhere, new is a reserved keyword. Trying to use it as a method name will result in a Parse error: "syntax error, unexpected T_NEW, expecting T_STRING". Namespaces will not help, because the new keyword applies to any namespace. The only way around this would be by means of a virtual method, e.g.

/**
 * @method String new new($args) returns $args
 */
class Foo
{
     protected function _new($args)
     {
         return $args;
     }
     public function __call($method, $args)
     {
         if($method === 'new') {
             return call_user_func_array(array($this, '_new'), $args);
         } else {
             throw new LogicException('Unknown method');
         }
     }
}
$foo = new Foo;
echo $foo->new('hello'); // return hello
echo $foo->boo();        // throws Exception

But I would discourage this. All magic methods are slower than direct invocation of methods and if the simple rule is there may be no method name new, then just be it. Use a synonym.

Well the short answer to that appears to be no, as it is a reserved keyword.

It would be nice to have available in classes like that, but reserved words are important for a reason. People tend to use other synonyms instead: create, new, getInstance() [usually static usage], etc.

Yes, as of PHP7. But only within classees, interfaces and traits.

Globally reserved words as property, constant, and method names within classes, interfaces, and traits are now allowed. ...

-- http://php.net/manual/en/migration70.other-changes.php#migration70.other-changes.loosening-reserved-words