Question

It doesn’t seem to work:

$ref = new ReflectionObject($obj);

if($ref->hasProperty('privateProperty')){
  print_r($ref->getProperty('privateProperty'));
}

It gets into the IF loop, and then throws an error:

Property privateProperty does not exist

😐

$ref = new ReflectionProperty($obj, 'privateProperty') doesn’t work either…

The documentation page lists a few constants, including IS_PRIVATE. How can I ever use that if I can’t access a private property lol?

Answer 1

class A
{
    private $b = 'c';
}

$obj = new A();

$r = new ReflectionObject($obj);
$p = $r->getProperty('b');
$p->setAccessible(true); // <--- you set the property to public before you read the value

var_dump($p->getValue($obj));

Update: As of PHP 8.1.0, calling ReflectionProperty::setAccessible method has no effect; all properties are accessible by default.