Clone in the PHP

Objects in PHP are assigned by reference, so copying an object with the = operator will result in a second variable referencing the same object and not an actual copy. Enter PHP's clone function which creates a shallow copy of the object.
An object copy is created by using the clone keyword (which calls the object's __clone() method if possible). An object's __clone() method cannot be called directly.
$copy_of_object = clone $object;
When an object is cloned, PHP 5 will perform a shallow copy of all of the object's properties. Any properties that are references to other variables, will remain references.
void __clone ( void )
Once the cloning is complete, if a __clone() method is defined, then the newly created object's __clone() method will be called, to allow any necessary properties that need to be changed.