Format of Exported Reflection Class in PHP?

Every Object in PHP's Reflection hierarchy has a static export method. You can can use this to get a string representation of a class. Code something like this

$c = new ReflectionClass('Mage_Core_Model_Abstract');
ReflectionClass::export($c)

will echo the following back

Class [ <internal:Reflection> class ReflectionClass implements Reflector ] {

  - Constants [3] {
    Constant [ integer IS_IMPLICIT_ABSTRACT ] { 16 }
    Constant [ integer IS_EXPLICIT_ABSTRACT ] { 32 }
    Constant [ integer IS_FINAL ] { 64 }
  }

  - Static properties [0] {
  }

  - Static methods [1] {
    Method [ <internal:Reflection> static public method export ] {

      - Parameters [2] {
        Parameter #0 [ <required> $argument ]
        Parameter #1 [ <optional> $return ]
      }
    }
  }

  - Properties [1] {
    Property [ <default> public $name ]
  }

  - Methods [43] {
    Method [ <internal:Reflection> final private method __clone ] {

      - Parameters [0] {
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal开发者_如何学C:Reflection, ctor> public method __construct ] {

      - Parameters [1] {
        Parameter #0 [ <required> $argument ]
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method __toString ] {

      - Parameters [0] {
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method getName ] {

      - Parameters [0] {
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method isInternal ] {

      - Parameters [0] {
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method isUserDefined ] {

      - Parameters [0] {
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method isInstantiable ] {

      - Parameters [0] {
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method getFileName ] {

      - Parameters [0] {
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method getStartLine ] {

      - Parameters [0] {
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method getEndLine ] {

      - Parameters [0] {
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method getDocComment ] {

      - Parameters [0] {
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method getConstructor ] {

      - Parameters [0] {
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method hasMethod ] {

      - Parameters [1] {
        Parameter #0 [ <required> $name ]
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method getMethod ] {

      - Parameters [1] {
        Parameter #0 [ <required> $name ]
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method getMethods ] {

      - Parameters [1] {
        Parameter #0 [ <optional> $filter ]
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method hasProperty ] {

      - Parameters [1] {
        Parameter #0 [ <required> $name ]
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method getProperty ] {

      - Parameters [1] {
        Parameter #0 [ <required> $name ]
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method getProperties ] {

      - Parameters [1] {
        Parameter #0 [ <optional> $filter ]
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method hasConstant ] {

      - Parameters [1] {
        Parameter #0 [ <required> $name ]
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method getConstants ] {

      - Parameters [0] {
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method getConstant ] {

      - Parameters [1] {
        Parameter #0 [ <required> $name ]
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method getInterfaces ] {

      - Parameters [0] {
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method getInterfaceNames ] {

      - Parameters [0] {
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method isInterface ] {

      - Parameters [0] {
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method isAbstract ] {

      - Parameters [0] {
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method isFinal ] {

      - Parameters [0] {
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method getModifiers ] {

      - Parameters [0] {
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method isInstance ] {

      - Parameters [1] {
        Parameter #0 [ <required> $object ]
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method newInstance ] {

      - Parameters [1] {
        Parameter #0 [ <required> $args ]
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method newInstanceArgs ] {

      - Parameters [1] {
        Parameter #0 [ <optional> array $args ]
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method getParentClass ] {

      - Parameters [0] {
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method isSubclassOf ] {

      - Parameters [1] {
        Parameter #0 [ <required> $class ]
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method getStaticProperties ] {

      - Parameters [0] {
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method getStaticPropertyValue ] {

      - Parameters [2] {
        Parameter #0 [ <required> $name ]
        Parameter #1 [ <optional> $default ]
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method setStaticPropertyValue ] {

      - Parameters [2] {
        Parameter #0 [ <required> $name ]
        Parameter #1 [ <required> $value ]
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method getDefaultProperties ] {

      - Parameters [0] {
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method isIterateable ] {

      - Parameters [0] {
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method implementsInterface ] {

      - Parameters [1] {
        Parameter #0 [ <required> $interface ]
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method getExtension ] {

      - Parameters [0] {
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method getExtensionName ] {

      - Parameters [0] {
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method inNamespace ] {

      - Parameters [0] {
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method getNamespaceName ] {

      - Parameters [0] {
      }
    }

    Method [ <internal:Reflection> public method getShortName ] {

      - Parameters [0] {
      }
    }
  }
}

What is this format? If is just something arbitrary developed by the internal PHP team, or is this a known format that can be parsed by other well known programming tools?

To clarify, I know what reflection is and how to use it. What I'm curious about is this "export" format, which appears deliberately designed but is NOT valid PHP. Is it a standard CS/programming format of some kind, or just something one off for PHP?

This format is a representation of how the Zend engine has the class stored once it has parsed it, you are correct that it is not valid PHP.