How to clone an array of objects in PHP?

Question

I have an array of objects. I know that objects get assigned by \"reference\" and arrays by \"value\". But when I assign the array, each element of the array is referencing

Answer 1

I opted for clone as well. Cloning an array does not work (you could consider some arrayaccess implementation to do so for you), so as for the array clone with array_map:

class foo {
    public $store;
    public function __construct($store) {$this->store=$store;}
}

$f = new foo('moo');
$a = array($f);

$b = array_map(function($o) {return clone $o;}, $a);

$b[0]->store='bar';    
var_dump($a, $b);

Array clone with serialize and unserialize

If your objects support serialisation, you can even sort of deep shallow copy/clone with a tour into their sleeping state and back:

$f = new foo('moo');
$a = array($f);

$b = unserialize(serialize($a));

$b[0]->store='bar';
var_dump($a, $b);

However, that can be a bit adventurous.