Clone Operations

When it comes to "empty" clone statements, should they be executed and then free the result (current behavior) or avoid clone all together. For example when class x { function __clone() { echo "hello"; } } clone new x(); code is executed, should it print hello or not print anything at all, treating the clone operation as a NOOP? Current behavior calls clone and then frees the result, meaning that "hello" is printed, but I am uncertain that this is the correct behavior, any comments? Ilia Alshanetsky