How do you copy a PHP object into a different object type

Question

1. New class is a subclass of the original object

2. It needs to be php4 compatible

Answer 1

A php object isn't a whole lot different to an array, and since all PHP 4 object variables are public, you can do some messy stuff like this:

function clone($object, $class)
{
     $new = new $class();
     foreach ($object as $key => $value)
     {
          $new->$key = $value;
     }
     return $new;
}
$mySubclassObject = clone($myObject, 'mySubclass');

Its not pretty, and its certianly not what I'd consider to be good practice, but it is reusable, and it is pretty neat.