Get PHP class property by string

Like this

<?php

$prop = 'Name';

echo $obj->$prop;

Or, if you have control over the class, implement the ArrayAccess interface and just do this

echo $obj['Name'];

What you're asking about is called Variable Variables. All you need to do is store your string in a variable and access it like so:

$Class = 'MyCustomClass';
$Property = 'Name';
$List = array('Name');

$Object = new $Class();

// All of these will echo the same property
echo $Object->$Property;  // Evaluates to $Object->Name
echo $Object->{$List[0]}; // Use if your variable is in an array

Something like this? Haven't tested it but should work fine.

function magic($obj, $var, $value = NULL)
{
    if($value == NULL)
    {
        return $obj->$var;
    }
    else
    {
        $obj->$var = $value;
    }
}

Just store the property name in a variable, and use the variable to access the property. Like this:

$name = 'Name';

$obj->$name = 'something';
$get = $obj->$name;

Just as an addition: This way you can access properties with names that would be otherwise unusable

$x = new StdClass;


$prop = 'a b';
$x->$prop = 1;
$x->{'x y'} = 2;
var_dump($x);

object(stdClass)#1 (2) {
  ["a b"]=>
  int(1)
  ["x y"]=>
  int(2)
}

Here is my attempt. It has some common 'stupidity' checks built in, making sure you don't try to set or get a member which isn't available.

You could move those 'property_exists' checks to __set and __get respectively and call them directly within magic().

<?php

class Foo {
    public $Name;

    public function magic($member, $value = NULL) {
        if ($value != NULL) {
            if (!property_exists($this, $member)) {
                trigger_error('Undefined property via magic(): ' .
                    $member, E_USER_ERROR);
                return NULL;
            }
            $this->$member = $value;
        } else {
            if (!property_exists($this, $member)) {
                trigger_error('Undefined property via magic(): ' .
                    $member, E_USER_ERROR);
                return NULL;
            }
            return $this->$member;
        }
    }
};

$f = new Foo();

$f->magic("Name", "Something");
echo $f->magic("Name") , "\n";

// error
$f->magic("Fame", "Something");
echo $f->magic("Fame") , "\n";

?>

$classname = "myclass";
$obj = new $classname($params);

$variable_name = "my_member_variable";
$val = $obj->$variable_name; //do care about the level(private,public,protected)

$func_name = "myFunction";
$val = $obj->$func_name($parameters);

why edit: before : using eval (evil) after : no eval at all. being old in this language.