#48137 [Bgs]: assigning array element reference appears to modify array

ID: 48137 Updated by: scottmac@php.net Reported By: mike at clove dot com Status: Bogus Bug Type: Arrays related Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5.6 PHP Version: 5.2.9 New Comment: References aren't pointers, all they say is that the two values should point to the same content. This is still the case even if the array was changed. http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.references.whatare.php Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2009-05-03 17:04:57] derick@php.net Thank you for taking the time to write to us, but this is not a bug. Please double-check the documentation available at http://www.php.net/manual/ and the instructions on how to report a bug at http://bugs.php.net/how-to-report.php Nah, this is fine. It doesn\'t modify the array. The & just shows that the is_ref bit on the zval container that contains the int(1) value is set. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2009-05-03 17:01:04] mike at clove dot com Description: ------------ Assigning reference to an array element appears to modify the array element rather than simply creating a reference to it. This is surprising, to say the least. At least I think this is a bug and couldn't find anything with the same behavior and such minimal code. Reproduce code: --------------- $a = array(1,2); $r =& $a[0]; var_dump($a); Expected result: ---------------- array(2) { [0]=> int(1) [1]=> int(2) } Actual result: -------------- array(2) { [0]=> &int(1) [1]=> int(2) } ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Edit this bug report at http://bugs.php.net/?id=48137&edit=1