Classes and Objects
PHP Manual

Object Iteration

PHP provides a way for objects to be defined so it is possible to iterate through a list of items, with, for example a foreach statement. By default, all visible properties will be used for the iteration.

Example #1 Simple Object Iteration

<?php
class MyClass
{
    public $var1 = 'value 1';
    public $var2 = 'value 2';
    public $var3 = 'value 3';

    protected $protected = 'protected var';
    private   $private   = 'private var';

    function iterateVisible() {
       echo "MyClass::iterateVisible:\n";
       foreach ($this as $key => $value) {
           print "$key => $value\n";
       }
    }
}

$class = new MyClass();

foreach($class as $key => $value) {
    print "$key => $value\n";
}
echo "\n";


$class->iterateVisible();

?>

The above example will output:

var1 => value 1
var2 => value 2
var3 => value 3

MyClass::iterateVisible:
var1 => value 1
var2 => value 2
var3 => value 3
protected => protected var
private => private var

As the output shows, the foreach iterated through all of the visible properties that could be accessed.

See Also