note 79424 added to language.oop5.visibility

Does anybody know WHY print_r and var_dump can access private member variables? When I read about visibility I assumed this was not going to happen... <?php class test { private $password = 'topsecret'; } $myTest = new test(); echo $myTest -> password; # Fatal error: Cannot access private property... that's fine! print_r($myTest); # test Object # ( # [password:private] => topsecret # ) # WHY ? var_dump($myTest); # object(test)#1 (1) { # ["password:private"]=> # string(9) "topsecret" # } # WHY ? ?> ---- Server IP: 130.206.1.5 Probable Submitter: 84.78.224.252 ---- Manual Page -- http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.oop5.visibility.php Edit -- https://master.php.net/note/edit/79424 Del: integrated -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/79424/integrated Del: useless -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/79424/useless Del: bad code -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/79424/bad+code Del: spam -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/79424/spam Del: non-english -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/79424/non-english Del: in docs -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/79424/in+docs Del: other reasons-- https://master.php.net/note/delete/79424 Reject -- https://master.php.net/note/reject/79424 Search -- https://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php