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ReflectionMethod::setAccessible

(PHP 5 >= 5.3.2, PHP 7, PHP 8)

ReflectionMethod::setAccessibleSet method accessibility

Description

public ReflectionMethod::setAccessible(bool $accessible): void

Enables invoking of a protected or private method via the ReflectionMethod::invoke() method.

Note: As of PHP 8.1.0, calling this method has no effect; all methods are invokable by default.

Parameters

accessible

true to allow accessibility, or false.

Return Values

No value is returned.

Examples

Example #1 Simple Class definition

<?php
class MyClass
{
private function
foo()
{
return
'bar';
}
}

$method = new ReflectionMethod("MyClass", "foo");
$method->setAccessible(true);

$obj = new MyClass();
echo
$method->invoke($obj);
echo
$obj->foo();
?>

The above example will output something similar to:

bar
Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Call to private method MyClass::foo() from global scope in /in/qdaZS:16

See Also

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User Contributed Notes 1 note

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21
dave1010 at gmail dot com
13 years ago
This is handy for accessing private methods but remember that things are normally private for a reason! Unit Testing is one (debatable) use case for this.

Example:
<?php
class Foo {
private function
myPrivateMethod() {
return
7;
}
}

$method = new ReflectionMethod('Foo', 'myPrivateMethod');
$method->setAccessible(true);

echo
$method->invoke(new Foo);
// echos "7"
?>

This works nicely with PHPUnit: http://php.net/manual/en/reflectionmethod.setaccessible.php
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