Static classes in PHP via abstract keyword?

Question

According to the PHP manual, a class like this:

abstract class Example {}

cannot be instantiated. If I need a class without instance, e.g. for

Answer 1

Setting a class to abstract that only defines static properties/methods won't have a real effect. You can extend the class, instantiate it, and call a method on it and it would change the static class properties. Obviously very confusing.

Abstract is also misleading. Abstract is ment to define an class that implements some functionality, but needs more behaviour (added via inheritance) to function properly. On top of that it's usually a feature that shouldn't be used with static at all. You are practically inviting programmers to use it wrong.

Short answer: A private constructor would be more expressive and fail safe.