Could you explain what is meant by 'magic functions' in programming?

In PHP, "magic methods" refer to special methods whose names start and end with a double underscore (__). They are automatically invoked by the interpreter in certain situations, allowing to alter the behavior of objects.

Examples of magic methods:

• __construct() — class constructor.
• __destruct() — destructor.
• __get($name) — called when accessing a non-existent or inaccessible property.
• __set($name, $value) — called when writing to a non-existent or inaccessible property.
• __call($name, $arguments) — called when invoking a non-existent method.
• __toString() — defines how an object is converted to a string.

Example of using __get and __set:

class User {
    private $data = [];

    public function __get($name) {
        return $this->data[$name] ?? null;
    }

    public function __set($name, $value) {
        $this->data[$name] = $value;
    }
}

$user = new User();
$user->name = 'Ivan';
echo $user->name;  // Ivan

Thus, magic methods allow flexible management of object behavior and simplify working with objects in certain scenarios.