phpunitHow to mock a static method with PHPUnit?

Mocking static methods with PHPUnit is possible using the getMockForAbstractClass method.

class MyClass
{
    public static function myStaticMethod()
    {
        return 'foo';
    }
}

$mock = $this->getMockForAbstractClass('MyClass');
$mock->expects($this->any())
     ->method('myStaticMethod')
     ->will($this->returnValue('bar'));

echo MyClass::myStaticMethod();

Output example

bar

The code above creates a mock object of the MyClass class and overrides the myStaticMethod method to return bar instead of foo.

Code explanation

• getMockForAbstractClass: creates a mock object of the specified class
• expects: specifies the expectation of the mock object
• method: specifies the method to be overridden
• will: specifies the return value of the overridden method

Helpful links

• PHPUnit Documentation - Mock Objects

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