What are the magical methods of classes you know?

Magic methods in PHP are special methods that are called automatically on certain events. They start with __ (double underscore).

Main magic methods:

• __construct(): Called when creating a new instance of a class. Used for object initialization.
• __destruct(): Called when an object is destroyed or the script ends. Used for resource cleanup.
• __call(string $name, array $arguments): Called when attempting to invoke an inaccessible or non-existent method.
• __callStatic(string $name, array $arguments): Called when attempting to invoke an inaccessible or non-existent static method.
• __get(string $name): Called when attempting to access an inaccessible or non-existent property.
• __set(string $name, mixed $value): Called when attempting to set a value to an inaccessible or non-existent property.
• __isset(string $name): Called when isset() or empty() is used on an inaccessible or non-existent property.
• __unset(string $name): Called when unset() is used on an inaccessible or non-existent property.
• __serialize(): Called before serializing an object with serialize(). Returns an array of properties for serialization.
• __unserialize(array $data): Called during deserialization with unserialize(). Receives an array of data to restore properties.
• __toString(): Allows treating the object as a string. Called when attempting to output the object as a string (e.g., with echo). Must return a string.
• __invoke(...$arguments): Allows handling the object as a function. Called when attempting to invoke the object as a function.
• __set_state(array $properties): Called when restoring an object with var_export(). Receives an array of the object's properties.
• __debugInfo(): Called when var_dump() is used on the object. Should return an array with debugging information.

Example of using __construct and __toString:

<?php
class MyClass {
    private $name;

    public function __construct(string $name) {
        $this->name = $name;
    }

    public function __toString(): string {
        return "Object with name: " . $this->name;
    }
}

$obj = new MyClass("Test");
echo $obj; // Calls __toString()

Example of using __get and __set:

<?php
class MyClass {
    private $data = [];

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

    public function __get(string $name): mixed {
        if (array_key_exists($name, $this->data)) {
            return $this->data[$name];
        }
        return null; // Or throw an exception
    }
}

$obj = new MyClass();
$obj->prop1 = "Value 1"; // Calls __set()
echo $obj->prop1; // Calls __get()