How to Use the PHP __toString() Magic Method

In this article, we show how to use the __toString() magic method in PHP.

The __toString method in PHP is one that allows us to call an object and see its components as a string.

So by using the echo and print function and having the object in the parameters of the echo or print function, the __toString() magic method is automatically called and it can allow us to see all the contents of an object (the properties of the object).

You'll see what I mean when you see the example code shown below.

But for now, realize, that the __toString() magic method is automatically called when we use the PHP echo or print function and place an object of a class inside of the echo or print function.

We then can use the __toString() method to output all of the contents of the object, such as all the object properties.

This saves us a lot of work of using getter methods to access the values of objects.

We simply can use the __toString method to output all of the properties of a n object. Not only that, but you can really do anything with the __toString method such as display sentences using object properties.

So as an example code, we create a class with private variable properties. We then getter and setter methods to get and set values. We also include a __toString() magic method so that we can output object properties.

<?php class cars { private $type; private $year; public function setType($type) { $this->type= $type; } public function setYear($year) { $this->year= $year; } public function getType() { echo $this->type; } public function getYear() { echo $this->year; } public function __toString() { return "Car type: " . $this->type . "<br>Car year: " . $this->year; } } $car1= new cars; $car1->setType("Toyota Camry"); $car1->setYear(2013); echo $car1; ?>

So we create a class named cars.

We declare 2 private variables $type and $year. They are declared private, so that we can achieve encapsulation for the data.

We then create getter and setter methods to set and get our values.

We then create our __toString() magic method. The __toString() method must have a return value. So you must use the keyword return. After the return, you put the data that we want to return. Since the car object we are creating has a type and year, we output these values.

After this, we then create an object of the cars class, $car1.

We set the 2 values of the car, the type to a "Toyota Camry" and the year to 2013.

We then simply echo the object, $car1.

When we do this, what we put into the __toString method is output.

If we echoed out the object without the __toString method in the code, the program would output a fatal error, such as the following: Catchable fatal error: Object of class cars could not be converted to string.

Running the PHP code above yields the following output below.

Actual PHP Output

Car type: Toyota Camry
Car year: 2013

Related Resources

How to Create Getter and Setter Methods in PHP