Fatal error: Using $this when not in object context

We get an error message “Fatal error: Using $this when not in object context” when access CodeIgniter resources within your helper functions or custom library.

For example, we have a helper function called check_login in helpers/site_helper.php that calls session library to determine if a user logged in or not.

helpers/site_helper.php

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<?php
function check_login()
{
	if($this->session->userdata('id') == "" || $this->session->userdata('email') == "")	{
		redirect(base_url() . 'index.php/auth/login','location');
		exit();
	}
}
?>

This function will produce a error message:

Fatal error: Using $this when not in object context in D:\_$projects\2. Internal\2.4 4rapiddev.com\_Development\Webfiles\demo\PHP\CodeIgniter\application\helpers\site_helper.php on line 4

In order to resolve Fatal error: Using $this when not in object context issue, we will need to assign the CodeIgniter object to a variable like this:

$ci = get_instance();

… then use $ci variable instead of $this.

So the helper function above should be like this:

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<?php
function check_login()
{
	$ci = get_instance();	if($ci->session->userdata('id') == "" || $ci->session->userdata('email') == "")
	{
		redirect(base_url() . 'index.php/auth/login','location');
		exit();
	}
}
<?>