PHP 5 Magic – _clone() method

Before I begin to explain the use of a _clone() method, lets try and understand what does object cloning mean.

To clone an object means to create a duplicate of an object. With regular variables $a = $b means that a new variable $a gets created that contains the value of $b. This means that 2 variables get created.

With objects $obj2 = $obj1 does not mean that a new object i.e. $obj2 gets created. When we execute $obj2 = $obj1, the reference of $obj1 is assigned to $obj2. This means that $obj1 and $obj2 point to the same memory space. Look at the diagram below. Continue reading »