How to Cast Objects in PHP

Question

Ive some classes that share some attributes, and i would like to do something like:

$dog = (Dog) $cat;

is it possible or is there any gener

Answer 1

class It {
    public $a = '';

    public function __construct($a) {
        $this->a = $a;
    }
    public function printIt() {
        ;
    }
}

//contains static function to 'convert' instance of parent It to sub-class instance of Thing

class Thing extends it {
    public $b = '';

    public function __construct($a, $b) {
        $this->a = $a;
        $this->b = $b;
    }
    public function printThing() {
        echo $this->a . $this->b;
    }
        //static function housed by target class since trying to create an instance of Thing
    static function thingFromIt(It $it, $b) {
        return new Thing($it->a, $b);
    }
}


//create an instance of It
$it = new It('1');

//create an instance of Thing 
$thing = Thing::thingFromIt($it, '2');


echo 'Class for $it: ' . get_class($it);
echo 'Class for $thing: ' . get_class($thing);

Returns:

Class for $it: It
Class for $thing: Thing