Bug->Doc #67918 [Opn->Ver]: var_export does not export a parsable string representation of stdClass objects

Edit report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=67918&edit=1 ID: 67918 Updated by: cmb@php.net Reported by: php-bugs-2014-08 at dotancohen dot com Summary: var_export does not export a parsable string representation of stdClass objects -Status: Open +Status: Verified -Type: Bug +Type: Documentation Problem Package: Class/Object related Operating System: Linux melancholy 3.13.0-34-gener PHP Version: 5.5.16 -Assigned To: +Assigned To: cmb Block user comment: N Private report: N New Comment: Indeed, bug #48016 has been closed erroneously, so I re-opened it. Instead of marking this ticket as duplicate, I'm switching to documentation problem, because the current behavior has to be documented anyway. Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2014-08-27 17:46:47] php-bugs-2014-08 at dotancohen dot com Description: ------------ Though var_export() is designed to "outputs or return a parsable string representation of a variable", the output of stdClass objects is not "a parsable string". Witness: php > $foo = new stdClass(); php > var_export($foo); stdClass::__set_state(array( )) php > $bar = stdClass::__set_state(array()); PHP Fatal error: Call to undefined method stdClass::__set_state() in php shell code on line 1 PHP Stack trace: PHP 1. {main}() php shell code:0 PHP 2. {main}() php shell code:0 Relevant quote from the fine manual: > var_export() gets structured information about the given variable. It > is similar to var_dump() with one exception: the returned representation > is valid PHP code. Note that the output presented above is not valid PHP code. It seems that bug #48016 attacks the same issue from the other side (stdClass::__setState is not defined although var_export uses it), however that bug was closed prematurely, as the test case used to justify the close does not demonstrate that the issue is resolved. Test script: --------------- $ php -a php > $foo = new stdClass(); php > var_export($foo); stdClass::__set_state(array( )) php > $bar = stdClass::__set_state(array()); PHP Fatal error: Call to undefined method stdClass::__set_state() in php shell code on line 1 PHP Stack trace: PHP 1. {main}() php shell code:0 PHP 2. {main}() php shell code:0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Edit this bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=67918&edit=1