Req #72382 [NEW]: THIS SHOULD BE CONSIDERED A BUG: __toString() must not throw an exception

From: travis dot detert at gmail dot com Operating system: All OS PHP version: Irrelevant Package: PHP Language Specification Bug Type: Feature/Change Request Bug description:THIS SHOULD BE CONSIDERED A BUG: __toString() must not throw an exception Description: ------------ The fundamental behavior of "__toString() must not throw an exception" needs to be changed. This problem is completely antithetical to object oriented design, and just doesn't even make sense. class Template{ function __construct($path){ $this->path = $path; } function __toString(){ if(!file_exists($this->path)){ throw new Exception('Path does not exist'); }else{ //process template } } $Template = new Template('/path/does/not/exist.php'); echo (string)$Template; There is absolutely no sane reason that this should be a fatal php error. Test script: --------------- class Template{ function __construct($path){ $this->path = $path; } function __toString(){ if(!file_exists($this->path)){ throw new Exception('Path does not exist'); }else{ //process template } } $Template = new Template('/path/does/not/exist.php'); echo (string)$Template; Expected result: ---------------- Raise a regular exception. Why would raising an exception ever be not allowed? What is the point? Actual result: -------------- __toString() must not throw an exception Pretty much the worst result possible. Unrecoverable fatal error. Why? What is the point? -- Edit bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=72382&edit=1 -- Try a snapshot (PHP 5.4): https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72382&r=trysnapshot54 Try a snapshot (PHP 5.5): https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72382&r=trysnapshot55 Try a snapshot (trunk): https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72382&r=trysnapshottrunk Fixed in SVN: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72382&r=fixed Fixed in release: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72382&r=alreadyfixed Need backtrace: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72382&r=needtrace Need Reproduce Script: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72382&r=needscript Try newer version: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72382&r=oldversion Not developer issue: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72382&r=support Expected behavior: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72382&r=notwrong Not enough info: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72382&r=notenoughinfo Submitted twice: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72382&r=submittedtwice register_globals: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72382&r=globals PHP 4 support discontinued: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72382&r=php4 Daylight Savings: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72382&r=dst IIS Stability: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72382&r=isapi Install GNU Sed: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72382&r=gnused Floating point limitations: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72382&r=float No Zend Extensions: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72382&r=nozend MySQL Configuration Error: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72382&r=mysqlcfg