#49987 [NEW]: __clone and __toString behave inconsistently

From: queenzeal at gmail dot com Operating system: PHP version: 5.3.0 PHP Bug Type: Feature/Change Request Bug description: __clone and __toString behave inconsistently Description: ------------ __toString() can be called directly but __clone() cannot. It seems like this behavior ought to be consistent. Either both can be called directly or neither can be called directly. __clone()'s current behavior is documented in <http://php.net/language.oop5.cloning> with the following: "An object's __clone() method cannot be called directly." The only reason I can figure for that is that without it, it'd be possible to clone a cloned object redundantly. eg. $a = clone $b->__clone(). That said, it seems to me like this can be done, already, with $a = clone clone $b, so that seems like a non-issue. Reproduce code: --------------- class a { function __toString() { return 'a'; } function __clone() { return this; } } $a = new a(); echo "$a\r\n"; echo $a->__toString() . "\r\n"; $b = clone $a; $b = $a->__clone(); Expected result: ---------------- a a Actual result: -------------- Fatal error: Cannot call __clone() method on objects - use 'clone $obj' instead in C:\php\test.php on line 20 -- Edit bug report at http://bugs.php.net/?id=49987&edit=1 -- Try a snapshot (PHP 5.2): http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=49987&r=trysnapshot52 Try a snapshot (PHP 5.3): http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=49987&r=trysnapshot53 Try a snapshot (PHP 6.0): http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=49987&r=trysnapshot60 Fixed in SVN: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=49987&r=fixed Fixed in SVN and need be documented: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=49987&r=needdocs Fixed in release: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=49987&r=alreadyfixed Need backtrace: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=49987&r=needtrace Need Reproduce Script: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=49987&r=needscript Try newer version: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=49987&r=oldversion Not developer issue: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=49987&r=support Expected behavior: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=49987&r=notwrong Not enough info: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=49987&r=notenoughinfo Submitted twice: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=49987&r=submittedtwice register_globals: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=49987&r=globals PHP 4 support discontinued: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=49987&r=php4 Daylight Savings: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=49987&r=dst IIS Stability: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=49987&r=isapi Install GNU Sed: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=49987&r=gnused Floating point limitations: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=49987&r=float No Zend Extensions: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=49987&r=nozend MySQL Configuration Error: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=49987&r=mysqlcfg