PHP what is th meaning of the backslash in the this code?
<blockquote>
  <p><strong>Possible Duplicate:</strong><br>
  <a href="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4075521/backslash-syntax-when-creating-objects">Backslash syntax when creating objects</a><br>
  <a href="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10788400/backslash-in-php-what-does-it-mean">Backslash in PHP &mdash; what does it mean?</a>  </p>
</blockquote>



<p>Can someone explain me what is the meaning of this "\" in this code snippet </p>

<pre><code>throw new \RuntimeException("Unable to cache the data with ID '$id'.");
</code></pre>

<p>as opposed to </p>

<pre><code>throw new RuntimeException("Unable to cache the data with ID '$id'.");
</code></pre>
