Question

I was programming, and came across this problem:
In the code sample below, a public function sets a private varriable. Now one would expect the content of that private varriable is private, thought the $GLOBALS varriable (a superglobal) can access it, and at least read it. why? is there a way to prefent this?

<?PHP
error_reporting( E_ALL );

class test {
    private $test = '';

    public function test()
    {
        $this->test = 'Can u see me?'; 
    }
}

$b = new test();
$b->test();

pre( $GLOBALS['b'] );
// Result:
// test Object
// (
//     [test:test:private] => Can u see me?
// )

somefunc();
function somefunc()
{
    pre( $GLOBALS['b'] );
    // Result:
    // test Object
    // (
    //     [test:test:private] => Can u see me?
    // )
}

echo $b->test;
// Result:
// Fatal error: Cannot access private property test::$test

function pre( $a ) {
    echo '<pre>';
    print_r( $a );
    echo '</pre>';
}
?>

Thank you,
Jeffrey

Answer 1

private keyword is about preventing the property/method from being accessed outside the class from the programming perspective. The service functions print_r and var_dump still able to see them.

So the reason is encapsulation, not literal hiding the data