toString() in PHP

[Dheeraj Joshi]

I was wondering, is there any method as toString() to convert a object to string?

As in JAVA???

Regards
Dheeraj

[Markus]

@dheerajjoshim
PHP has the magic-method __toString(), that can be used to present a textual representation of the object.

class toString {
    public function __toString() {
        return "Object toString";
    }
}
 
 
$ts = new toString;
printf("toString::__toString() - %s", $ts);
// echo
echo $ts;
 

[Dheeraj Joshi]

<?php
class Style {
 
    var $text;
function Style ($text="#000000",)
{
 $this->text=$text;
}
}
?>
 
<?php $Basic = new Style; ?>

Now i want to convert this object to String

$Basic::__tostring();
Wont work..


Any suggetions?

[Markus]

Your class must implement the __toString() method - you don't call it yourself. Look again at my example.

[Dheeraj Joshi]

Yup a added that and got the output.

But it is not similar to object.toString() in java right?

[Markus]

@dheerajjoshim
Why is it not?

Mark.

[Atli]

@dheerajjoshim
The only difference, really, is in the spelling.
Both serve to provide a string representation of the object, and both need to be implemented specifically for an object to provide an accurate representation. (Otherwise you just get a generic "object" string, or nothing at all)

But you should keep in mind that PHP and Java are two extremely different languages, and things may not be implemented the same way between the two, if they are implemented at all.