As of PHP 5.5 you can also use "static::class" to get the name of the called class.

<?php
class Bar {
    public static function test() {
        var_dump(static::class);
    }
}

class Foo extends Bar {

}

Foo::test();
Bar::test();
?>

Output:

string(3) "Foo"
string(3) "Bar"

get_called_class() in closure-scopes:

<?PHP
    ABSTRACT CLASS Base
    {
        protected static $stub = ['baz'];
        
        //final public function boot()
        static public function boot()
        {
            print __METHOD__.'-> '.get_called_class().PHP_EOL;
            
            array_walk(static::$stub, function()
            {
                print __METHOD__.'-> '.get_called_class().PHP_EOL;
            });
        }
        
        public function __construct()
        {
            self::boot();
            print __METHOD__.'-> '.get_called_class().PHP_EOL;
            
            array_walk(static::$stub, function()
            {
                print __METHOD__.'-> '.get_called_class().PHP_EOL;
            });
        }
    }
    
    CLASS Sub EXTENDS Base
    {
    }
    
    // static boot
        Base::boot(); print PHP_EOL;
            // Base::boot        -> Base
            // Base::{closure}    -> Base
            
        Sub::boot(); print PHP_EOL;
            // Base::boot        -> Sub
            // Base::{closure}    -> Base
            
        new sub;
            // Base::boot        -> Sub
            // Base::{closure}    -> Base
            // Base->__construct    -> Sub
            // Base->{closure}    -> Sub
    
    // instance boot
        new sub;
            // Base->boot        -> Sub
            // Base->{closure}    -> Sub
            // Base->__construct    -> Sub
            // Base->{closure}    -> Sub
?>

namespace root;
class Factor {
    protected static $instance = null;

    private function __construct() {

    }

    public static function getInstance() {
        if (!self::$instance) {
            $name           = get_called_class();
            self::$instance = new $name();
        }

        return self::$instance;
    }
}

namespace admin\test;

use root\Factor;

class Single extends Factor {
    public function abc() {
        return 'abc';
    }
}

namespace index;

use admin\test\Single;

class Index {
    public function get() {
        return Single::getInstance();
    }
}

$index = new Index();
var_dump($index->get());

The result is:

object(admin\test\Single)#2 (0) {
}

SEE: http://php.net/manual/en/language.oop5.late-static-bindings.php

I think it is worth mentioning on this page, that many uses of the value returned by get_called_function() could be handled with the new use of the old keyword static, as in
<?php 
static::$foo;
?>

versus
<?php
$that=get_called_class();
$that::$foo;
?>

I had been using $that:: as my conventional replacement for self:: until my googling landed me the url above.  I have replaced all uses of $that with static with success both as 
<?php 
static::$foo; //and...
new static();
?>

Since static:: is listed with the limitation: "Another difference is that static:: can only refer to static properties." one may still need to use a $that:: to call static functions; though I have not yet needed this semantic.

When calling dynamic method statically in php 5.6 (under 7) it allows it, but it doesnt work, it incorrectly evaluates class that called our subject class, therefore containing method must be static.

It is possible to write a completely self-contained Singleton base class in PHP 5.3 using get_called_class.

<?php

abstract class Singleton {

    protected function __construct() {
    }

    final public static function getInstance() {
        static $aoInstance = array();

        $calledClassName = get_called_class();

        if (! isset ($aoInstance[$calledClassName])) {
            $aoInstance[$calledClassName] = new $calledClassName();
        }

        return $aoInstance[$calledClassName];
    }

    final private function __clone() {
    }
}

class DatabaseConnection extends Singleton {

    protected $connection;

    protected function __construct() {
        // @todo Connect to the database
    }

    public function __destruct() {
        // @todo Drop the connection to the database
    }
}

$oDbConn = new DatabaseConnection();  // Fatal error

$oDbConn = DatabaseConnection::getInstance();  // Returns single instance
?>

If you call a static getInstance() function to create a instance of a class from another class, this function have to be static, if it is not static the original name of the caller class and not of the current class get returned.

example:

<?php

class a {
  function getXName() {
     return x::getClassName();
  }
  function getXStaticName() {
     return x::getStaticClassName();
  }

}

class b extends a {
}

class x {
  public function getClassName() {
    return get_called_class();
  }
  public static function getStaticClassName() {
    return get_called_class();
  }
}

$a = new a();

$b = new b();

echo $a->getXName(); // will return "a"
echo $b->getXName(); // will return "b"

echo $a->getXStaticName(); // will return "x"
echo $b->getXStaticName(); // will return "x"

?>

Beware that this does not behave as expected if your method is not declared as static! For example:

<?php

class foo {
  static public function test() {
    var_dump(get_called_class());
  }
  
  public function testTwo() {
    var_dump(get_called_class());
  }
}

class bar extends foo {
}

class abc {
  function test() {
    foo::test();
    bar::test();
  }
  
  function testTwo() {
    foo::testTwo();
    bar::testTwo();
  }
}

echo "basic\n";
foo::test();
bar::test();

echo "basic without static declaration\n";
foo::testTwo();
bar::testTwo();

echo "in a class\n";
$abc = new abc();
$abc->test();

echo "in a class without static declaration\n";
$abc->testTwo();

?>

The result is:

basic
string 'foo'
string 'bar'

basic without static declaration
string 'foo'
string 'bar'

in a class
string 'foo'
string 'bar'

in a class without static declaration
string 'abc'
string 'abc'

Here's a simple way of getting the inheritance tree of a class, no matter which class the function was actually defined in. Will work as a static function method too.

<?php
class A {
    public function get_class_tree(){
        $cur_class = get_called_class();
        do {
            echo $cur_class;            
        }
        while($cur_class = get_parent_class($cur_class));
    }
}

class B {

}

class C {

}

$foo = new C();
$foo->get_class_tree();

?>

CBA