In PHP, how do I deep copy objects for production systems?

In PHP, deep copying objects can be achieved using various methods. One common method is utilizing the `clone` keyword, but this only creates a shallow copy. For deep copying, you'll often need to implement a custom method to ensure that all nested objects are also copied.

Using serialization is a straightforward way to deep copy an object, as it allows you to preserve the state of the entire object structure. Below is an example demonstrating how to perform a deep copy using serialization.

<?php class Address { public $street; public $city; public function __construct($street, $city) { $this->street = $street; $this->city = $city; } } class User { public $name; public $address; public function __construct($name, Address $address) { $this->name = $name; $this->address = $address; } } function deepCopy($object) { return unserialize(serialize($object)); } // Creating an original user object $originalUser = new User("John Doe", new Address("123 Main St", "Anytown")); // Creating a deep copy of the user $copiedUser = deepCopy($originalUser); // Modify the copied user address $copiedUser->address->street = "456 Elm St"; echo $originalUser->address->street; // Outputs: 123 Main St echo $copiedUser->address->street; // Outputs: 456 Elm St ?>

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