[PHP-BUG] Req #72382 [NEW]: THIS SHOULD BE CONSIDERED A BUG: __toString() must not throw an exception

From:             travis dot detert at gmail dot com
Operating system: All OS
PHP version:      Irrelevant
Package:          PHP Language Specification
Bug Type:         Feature/Change Request
Bug description:THIS SHOULD BE CONSIDERED A BUG: __toString() must not throw an exception

Description:
------------
The fundamental behavior of "__toString() must not throw an exception"
needs to be changed.  This problem is completely antithetical to object
oriented design, and just doesn't even make sense.

class Template{
function __construct($path){
$this->path = $path;
}

function __toString(){
if(!file_exists($this->path)){
throw new Exception('Path does not exist');
}else{
//process template
}
}

$Template = new Template('/path/does/not/exist.php');
echo (string)$Template;

There is absolutely no sane reason that this should be a fatal php
error.

Test script:
---------------
class Template{
function __construct($path){
$this->path = $path;
}

function __toString(){
if(!file_exists($this->path)){
throw new Exception('Path does not exist');
}else{
//process template
}
}

$Template = new Template('/path/does/not/exist.php');
echo (string)$Template;


Expected result:
----------------
Raise a regular exception.  Why would raising an exception ever be not
allowed?  What is the point?

Actual result:
--------------
__toString() must not throw an exception

Pretty much the worst result possible.  Unrecoverable fatal error.  Why?
 What is the point?

-- 
Edit bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=72382&edit=1
-- 
Try a snapshot (PHP 5.4):   https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72382&r=trysnapshot54
Try a snapshot (PHP 5.5):   https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72382&r=trysnapshot55
Try a snapshot (trunk):     https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72382&r=trysnapshottrunk
Fixed in SVN:               https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72382&r=fixed
Fixed in release:           https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72382&r=alreadyfixed
Need backtrace:             https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72382&r=needtrace
Need Reproduce Script:      https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72382&r=needscript
Try newer version:          https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72382&r=oldversion
Not developer issue:        https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72382&r=support
Expected behavior:          https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72382&r=notwrong
Not enough info:            https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72382&r=notenoughinfo
Submitted twice:            https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72382&r=submittedtwice
register_globals:           https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72382&r=globals
PHP 4 support discontinued: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72382&r=php4
Daylight Savings:           https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72382&r=dst
IIS Stability:              https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72382&r=isapi
Install GNU Sed:            https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72382&r=gnused
Floating point limitations: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72382&r=float
No Zend Extensions:         https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72382&r=nozend
MySQL Configuration Error:  https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72382&r=mysqlcfg