Description
bool 
class_exists ( string class_name [, bool autoload] )
     This function returns TRUE if the class given by
     class_name has been defined,
     FALSE otherwise.
    
     
| Example 1. class_exists() example | 
<?php// Check the class exists before trying to use it
 if (class_exists('MyClass')) {
 $myclass = new MyClass();
 }
 
 ?>
 | 
 | 
    
     class_exists() will attempt to call __autoload by
     default, if you don't want class_exists() to 
     call __autoload, you can set the parameter autoload
     to FALSE.
    
     
| Example 2. autoload parameter example | 
<?phpfunction __autoload($class)
 {
 include($class . '.php');
 
 // Check to see if the include declared the class
 if (!class_exists($class, false)) {
 trigger_error("Unable to load class: $class", E_USER_WARNING);
 }
 }
 
 if (class_exists('MyClass')) {
 $myclass = new MyClass();
 }
 
 ?>
 | 
 | 
    Note: 
      The autoload parameter was added in PHP 5
     
     See also interface_exists(), and
     get_declared_classes().