PHP 5.3允许通过后期静态绑定创建可继承的单例类:

class Singleton
{
    protected static $instance = null;

    protected function __construct()
    {
        //Thou shalt not construct that which is unconstructable!
    }

    protected function __clone()
    {
        //Me not like clones! Me smash clones!
    }

    public static function getInstance()
    {
        if (!isset(static::$instance)) {
            static::$instance = new static;
        }
        return static::$instance;
    }
}

这解决了一个问题，在PHP 5.3之前，任何扩展了Singleton的类都会生成父类的实例，而不是它自己的实例。

现在你可以做:

class Foobar extends Singleton {};
$foo = Foobar::getInstance();

$foo将是Foobar的一个实例而不是Singleton的一个实例。

protected  static $_instance;

public static function getInstance()
{
    if(is_null(self::$_instance))
    {
        self::$_instance = new self();
    }
    return self::$_instance;
}

这段代码可以应用于任何类，而无需关心类名。

class Database{

        //variable to hold db connection
        private $db;
        //note we used static variable,beacuse an instance cannot be used to refer this
        public static $instance;

        //note constructor is private so that classcannot be instantiated
        private function __construct(){
          //code connect to database  

         }     

         //to prevent loop hole in PHP so that the class cannot be cloned
        private function __clone() {}

        //used static function so that, this can be called from other classes
        public static function getInstance(){

            if( !(self::$instance instanceof self) ){
                self::$instance = new self();           
            }
             return self::$instance;
        }


        public function query($sql){
            //code to run the query
        }

    }


Access the method getInstance using
$db = Singleton::getInstance();
$db->query();

这篇文章涵盖了相当广泛的主题: http://www.phptherightway.com/pages/Design-Patterns.html#singleton

Note the following: The constructor __construct() is declared as protected to prevent creating a new instance outside of the class via the new operator. The magic method __clone() is declared as private to prevent cloning of an instance of the class via the clone operator. The magic method __wakeup() is declared as private to prevent unserializing of an instance of the class via the global function unserialize(). A new instance is created via late static binding in the static creation method getInstance() with the keyword static. This allows the subclassing of the class Singleton in the example.

下面是我的例子，它提供了调用as $var = new Singleton()的能力，并创建了3个变量来测试它是否创建了新对象:

class Singleton{

    private static $data;

    function __construct(){
        if ($this::$data == null){
            $this->makeSingleton();
        }
        echo "<br/>".$this::$data;
    }

    private function makeSingleton(){
        $this::$data = rand(0, 100);
    }

    public function change($new_val){
        $this::$data = $new_val;
    }

    public function printme(){
        echo "<br/>".$this::$data;
    }

}


$a = new Singleton();
$b = new Singleton();
$c = new Singleton();

$a->change(-2);
$a->printme();
$b->printme();

$d = new Singleton();
$d->printme();

/**
 * Singleton class
 *
 */
final class UserFactory
{
    private static $inst = null;

    // Prevent cloning and de-serializing
    private function __clone(){}
    private function __wakeup(){}


    /**
     * Call this method to get singleton
     *
     * @return UserFactory
     */
    public static function Instance()
    {
        if ($inst === null) {
            $inst = new UserFactory();
        }
        return $inst;
    }
    
    /**
     * Private ctor so nobody else can instantiate it
     *
     */
    private function __construct()
    {
        
    }
}

使用方法:

$fact = UserFactory::Instance();
$fact2 = UserFactory::Instance();

$fact == $fact2;

But:

$fact = new UserFactory()

抛出错误。

参见http://php.net/manual/en/language.variables.scope.php#language.variables.scope.static了解静态变量的作用域以及为什么设置static $inst = null;的工作原理。