Question

class Foo {
   private $_id;
   public function __construct (){
     $this->_id = /*requesting variable name*/;
   }
}
$bar = NEW Foo();

I’m trying to set the $bar->_id equal to ‘bar’

Answer 1

class Foo {

   private $_id;

   public function __construct($id) {
     $this->_id = $id;
   }

}

$bar = new Foo('bar');

There’s no other sane way to do this.

An object is the object. It has no relationship to the variable it’s assigned to. You cannot get the name of the variable the object has been assigned to inside the object. Consider that an object may not be assigned to a variable at all, or it may be assigned to several variables at the same time, or the variable it’s assigned to may change.