The __call Method

The __call method is a magic method in PHP that is automatically called when attempting to access a non-existent or inaccessible class method. It accepts the name of the called method as the first parameter, and an array of arguments as the second.

Syntax

phppublic function __call(string $name, array $arguments) {
  // implementation
}

Example

Let's create a class with the __call method that will intercept all calls to non-existent methods:

php<?php
  class Test {
    public function __call($name, $args) {
      echo "Called method: " . $name . "\n";
      echo "Arguments: ";
      print_r($args);
    }
  }
  
  $test = new Test();
  $test->nonExistentMethod('a', 'b', 123);
?>

Execution result:

phpCalled method: nonExistentMethod
Arguments: ['a', 'b', 123]

Example

Let's implement a simple method delegator using __call:

php<?php
  class Calculator {
    public function add($a, $b) {
      return $a + $b;
    }
  }
  
  class Math {
    private $calculator;
    
    public function __construct() {
      $this->calculator = new Calculator();
    }
    
    public function __call($name, $args) {
      if (method_exists($this->calculator, $name)) {
        return call_user_func_array(
          [$this->calculator, $name],
          $args
        );
      }
      throw new Exception("Method $name not found");
    }
  }
  
  $math = new Math();
  echo $math->add(2, 3);
?>

Execution result:

php5

See Also