Magic Methods:
PHP functions that start with a double underscore – a “__” – are called magic functions (and/or methods) in PHP. They are functions that are always defined inside classes, and are not stand-alone (outside of classes) functions. The magic functions available in PHP are: __construct(), __destruct(), __call(), __callStatic(), __get(), __set(), __isset(), __unset(), __sleep(), __wakeup(), __toString(), __invoke(), __set_state(), __clone(), and __autoload().
Why are they called Magic Methods?
The definition of a magic function is provided by the programmer – meaning you, as the programmer, will actually write the definition. This is important to remember – PHP does not provide the definitions of the magic functions – the programmer must actually write the code that defines what the magic function will do. But, magic functions will never directly be called by the programmer – actually, PHP will call the function ‘behind the scenes’. This is why they are called ‘magic’ functions – because they are never directly called, and they allow the programmer to do some pretty powerful things.
Magic Quotes:
Magic Quotes is a process that automagically escapes incoming data to the PHP script. It’s preferred to code with magic quotes off and to instead escape the data at runtime, as needed.
This feature has been DEPRECATED as of PHP 5.3.0 and REMOVED as of PHP 5.4.0.
Short Tags:
< ?= Hello World ? >
Output is displayed directly to the browser.
– PHP also allows for short open tags which are discouraged because they are only available if enabled with short_open_tag php.ini configuration file directive
– Can have problems with portability if the server does not allow short tags
– Can interfere with XML documents.