Tag: __clone

The __clone method is a magic method in PHP that is called when an object is cloned. It is defined by the __clone function, which takes no parameters and has no return value.

By default, when an object is cloned in PHP, the new object that is created will have a copy of all of the properties of the original object. The __clone method allows you to customize this behavior by defining your own code to be run when the object is cloned.

Here is an example of how the __clone method can be used:

class MyClass
{
    public $property;

    public function __clone()
    {
        // Customize the cloning behavior
        $this->property = 'cloned';
    }
}

$obj = new MyClass();
$obj->property = 'original';

$clonedObj = clone $obj;

echo $obj->property; // Outputs 'original'
echo $clonedObj->property; // Outputs 'cloned'

In this example, the __clone method sets the value of the property property to ‘cloned’ when the object is cloned. As a result, the value of the property property for the cloned object is different from the value for the original object.

It is important to note that the __clone method is called automatically by PHP when an object is cloned, and should not be called directly.