Req #51992 [NEW]: ArrayAccess and references

From: Operating system: Irrelevant PHP version: Irrelevant Package: SPL related Bug Type: Feature/Change Request Bug description:ArrayAccess and references Description: ------------ Arrays in PHP contains references to primitive types and reference types. Which basically means that if you are post-incrementing an element, well, it actually works. Why is ArrayAccess::offsetGet() returns by value instead of by reference? Wasn't ArrayAccess created to emulate an array? This is a major inconsistency in the platform and makes this whole interface pretty useless. This isn't an engine limitation. __get(), __set(), __isset(), __unset() is returning values by reference without any problems. Why can't ArrayAccess (when it does pretty much the same thing?) Can ArrayAccess::offsetGet() return by reference (or at the very least create a second interface, "ArrayAccessRef", for this)? Test script: --------------- <?php class ArrayTest implements ArrayAccess { private $container = array(); public function offsetSet($name, $value) { $this->container[$name] = $value; } public function offsetExists($name) { return isset($this->container[$name]); } public function offsetUnset($name) { unset($this->container[$name]); } public function offsetGet($name) { return isset($this->container[$name]) ? $this->container[$name] : null; } } class ObjectTest { private $container = array(); public function __set($name, $value) { $this->container[$name] = $value; } public function __isset($name) { return isset($this->container[$name]); } public function __unset($name) { unset($this->container[$name]); } public function __get($name) { return isset($this->container[$name]) ? $this->container[$name] : null; } } $array = array(); $array['counter'] = 0; $array['counter']++; echo $array['counter'] . "\n"; $objArray = new ArrayTest(); $objArray['counter'] = 0; $objArray['counter']++; echo $objArray['counter'] . "\n"; $objAccess = new ObjectTest(); $objAccess->counter = 0; $objAccess->counter++; echo $objAccess->counter . "\n"; Expected result: ---------------- 1 1 1 Actual result: -------------- 1 0 1 -- Edit bug report at http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=51992&edit=1 -- Try a snapshot (PHP 5.2): http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=51992&r=trysnapshot52 Try a snapshot (PHP 5.3): http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=51992&r=trysnapshot53 Try a snapshot (trunk): http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=51992&r=trysnapshottrunk Fixed in SVN: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=51992&r=fixed Fixed in SVN and need be documented: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=51992&r=needdocs Fixed in release: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=51992&r=alreadyfixed Need backtrace: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=51992&r=needtrace Need Reproduce Script: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=51992&r=needscript Try newer version: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=51992&r=oldversion Not developer issue: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=51992&r=support Expected behavior: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=51992&r=notwrong Not enough info: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=51992&r=notenoughinfo Submitted twice: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=51992&r=submittedtwice register_globals: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=51992&r=globals PHP 4 support discontinued: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=51992&r=php4 Daylight Savings: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=51992&r=dst IIS Stability: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=51992&r=isapi Install GNU Sed: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=51992&r=gnused Floating point limitations: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=51992&r=float No Zend Extensions: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=51992&r=nozend MySQL Configuration Error: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=51992&r=mysqlcfg