Debugable Enums

It passed 16 to 2, with 5 abstaining, clearing the two-thirds majority it needed. Voting closed on April 16, 2026, and the change shipped in PHP 8.6.

__debugInfo() is the magic method that controls what var_dump() shows for an object. When enums arrived in PHP 8.1, they blocked most magic methods, including __debugInfo(). This RFC from Daniel Scherzer lets enums define it.

The original enum RFC blocked most magic methods because they deal with state, and enum cases don't have state. __debugInfo() doesn't need state, though, so blocking it wasn't necessary.

Show me#

Here's a backed enum with its own __debugInfo():

enum Foo: string {
    case Bar = "Baz";

    public function __debugInfo() {
        return [__CLASS__ . '::' . $this->name . ' = ' . $this->value];
    }
}

var_dump(Foo::Bar);

That prints:

enum(Foo::Bar) (1) {
  [0]=>
  string(14) "Foo::Bar = Baz"
}

The enum(Foo::Bar) header stays in the output, and your array shows up below it. Unit enums, the ones with no backing value, can use it the same way.

How it works#

PHP removes the compile error you'd get for adding __debugInfo() to an enum. The normal checks for that method still apply, so it must have the right visibility, arguments and return type.

The first version of this idea was different: it would have allowed __toString() on enums. Feedback on the mailing list led to this rewrite.

PHP's own enums, like \Random\IntervalBoundary, don't get a __debugInfo() method from this RFC, though that may come later.

What it means for existing code#

Nothing breaks, since the RFC only removes an error. Static analysis tools that warn about __debugInfo() in enums will need an update for PHP 8.6 and later.