custom var_dump output for my class

In PHP 5.6.0+, you can use the __debugInfo() magic function to customize the output of var_dump().

array __debugInfo ( void )

This method is called by var_dump() when dumping an object to get the properties that should be shown. If the method isn't defined on an object, then all public, protected and private properties will be shown.

This feature was added in PHP 5.6.0.

Example:

class MyDateTime{    public $year, $month, $day, $hour, $minute, $second;    public function __debugInfo() {        return array(            'date' => $this->year . "-" . $this->month . "-" . $this->day,            'time' => sprintf("%02d:%02d:%02d", $this->hour, $this->minute, $this->second),        );    }}$dt = new MyDateTime();$dt->year = 2014; $dt->month = 9; $dt->day = 20;$dt->hour = 16; $dt->minute = 2; $dt->second = 41;var_dump($dt);

Output by PHP 5.6.0:

object(MyDateTime)#1 (2) {  ["date"]=>  string(9) "2014-9-20"  ["time"]=>  string(8) "16:02:41"}

Output by PHP 5.0.0 - 5.5.16:

object(MyDateTime)#1 (6) {  ["year"]=>  int(2014)  ["month"]=>  int(9)  ["day"]=>  int(20)  ["hour"]=>  int(16)  ["minute"]=>  int(2)  ["second"]=>  int(41)}

Notes:

1. __debugInfo() must return an array. I got an error on PHP 5.6.0 for returning a string:

   Fatal error: __debuginfo() must return an array in /somepath/somefile.php on line 15

2. It seems to work with print_r() too, although this doesn't seem documented anywhere.

For this you could use the ReflectionClass functions and build your own function to get the informations you need.

http://php.net/manual/de/reflectionclass.tostring.php
http://php.net/manual/en/book.reflection.php

You cant overwrite core PHP functions.

You could add the function __toString() in your object:

class myClass {    public function __toString(){        // custom var_dump() content here then output it    }}$myClass = new myClass();echo $myClass;