What's the fastest way to compare two objects in PHP?

Question

Let\'s say I have an object - a User object in this case - and I\'d like to be able to track changes to with a separate class. The User object should not have to change it\'s be

Answer 1

There is a whole site on php.net only dealing with comparing objects:

http://php.net/manual/en/language.oop5.object-comparison.php

Also a good read:

http://www.tuxradar.com/practicalphp/6/12/0

I would say you should use the "clone" method when copying your object and then later compare as said in the php.net article.

Also a fast way would be by declaring a static method in the class that just compares the relevant "properties" like lets say "username", "password", "cookie",...

    class User
    {

    public $username;
    public $password;
    public $cookie;

    # other code

    public static function compare(&$obj1, &$obj2)
    {
    if ($obj1->username != $obj2->username)
        return 0
    if ($obj1->password != $obj2->password)
        return 0
    if ($obj1->cookie != $obj2->cookie)
        return 0
    return 1
    }


    };