Get CI’s object instance using get_instance() method

Last updated on November 18, 2022

In this post, I will show you how you can access the CI’s instance object within your custom classes. You can utilize all of CodeIgniter’s native resources using $this instance. But $this the instance only works within your controllers, your models, and your views.

If you would like to use CodeIgniter’s classes from within your own custom classes you can do so as follows:

First, assign the CodeIgniter object to a variable:

$CI =& get_instance();

Once you’ve assigned the object to a variable, you’ll use that variable instead of $this:

$CI =& get_instance();

$CI->load->helper('url');
$CI->load->library('session');
$CI->config->item('base_url');
// etc.

You’ll notice that the above get_instance() function is being passed by reference. Assigning by reference allows you to use the original CodeIgniter object rather than creating a copy of it.