Linear case
In the linear case, these identities are part of the definition of the Moore-Penrose pseudo-inverse, which exists and is unique. Given $A\in M_{p\times q}(\mathbb C)$, its MPpi is the matrix $A^\dagger\in M_{q\times p}(\mathbb C)$ that satisfies
$$AA^\dagger A=A,\qquad A^\dagger AA^\dagger=A^\dagger,\qquad(AA^\dagger)^H=AA^\dagger,\qquad(A^\dagger A)^H=A^\dagger A,$$
where the superscript $H$ stands for the Hermitian adjoint.
If $A\in GL_n(\mathbb C)$, then $A^\dagger=A^{-1}$. But otherwise, $AA^\dagger$ and $A^\dagger A$ are only unitary projections.
Nonlinear case
The situation where $f=g$ is amazing: one looks at functions $h$ such that $h\circ h\neq {\rm id}$, whereas $h\circ h\circ h=h$. Then we have $h^{(2k)}=h^2$ and $h^{(2k-1)}=h$ for every $k\ge1$.
Such an $h$ can be obtained by the following construction, when we are given $f,g$ such that $fgf=f$, $gfg=g$ and at least one of $fg$ or $gf$ is not the identity. Just define $h(x,y)=(f(x),g(y))$ on the cartesian product.
Application: take for $f$ the backward shift on $\ell^p({\mathbb N})$ and for $g$ the forward shift.