Creating a copy of an object with fully replicated properties is not always the wanted behavior.
An object copy is created by using the clone keyword (which calls the object’s __clone() method if possible). An object’s __clone() method cannot be called directly.
$copy_of_object = clone $object;
When an object is cloned, PHP 5 will perform a shallow copy of all of the object’s properties. Any properties that are references to other variables, will remain references.
class SubObject
{
static $instances = 0;
public $instance;
public function __construct() {
$this->instance = ++self::$instances;
}
public function __clone() {
$this->instance = ++self::$instances;
}
}
class MyCloneable
{
public $object1;
public $object2;
function __clone()
{
// Force a copy of this->object, otherwise
// it will point to same object.
$this->object1 = clone $this->object1;
}
}
$obj = new MyCloneable();
$obj->object1 = new SubObject();
$obj->object2 = new SubObject();
$obj2 = clone $obj;
print(“Original Object:\n”);
print_r($obj);
print(“Cloned Object:\n”);
print_r($obj2);
OUTPUT :
Original Object:
MyCloneable Object
(
[object1] => SubObject Object
(
[instance] => 1
)
[object2] => SubObject Object
(
[instance] => 2
)
)
Cloned Object:
MyCloneable Object
(
[object1] => SubObject Object
(
[instance] => 3
)
[object2] => SubObject Object
(
[instance] => 2
)
)
