Req #51622 [Com]: ArrayObject::offsetGet should return a reference

Edit report at http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=51622&edit=1 ID: 51622 Comment by: andrewm dot finewolf at gmail dot com Reported by: oliver dot graetz at gmx dot de Summary: ArrayObject::offsetGet should return a reference Status: Open Type: Feature/Change Request Package: SPL related PHP Version: 5.2.13 New Comment: 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)? Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2010-04-27 10:02:34] colder@php.net This is actually a feature request. To be backward compatible, we would need to have a new interface, and obviously a new interface only to solve that reference thing is painful. The immediate solution is to return an ArrayObject itself, which means that indirect modifications will work. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2010-04-21 13:35:50] oliver dot graetz at gmx dot de Description: ------------ This bug refers to my report filed under http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=34783 which is now more than four years old. In the meantime I found out that using ArrayObject instead of the test class the $t['huba'][]='three'; actually works, thanks to the SPL using its "implemented in C advantage" to circumvent the problem. Actually, it works until the programmer decides to inherit from ArrayObject and overwrite offsetGet(). Then the problem of the offsetGet() method not returning by reference is back. Back in 2005 you were very quick to flag the report as BOGUS, but a look at the source code of "zend_interfaces.c" proves that there is in fact a problem: ZEND_BEGIN_ARG_INFO_EX(arginfo_arrayaccess_offset_get, 0, 0, 1) /* actually this should be return by ref but atm cannot be */ The best way of dealing with this is not to mark it as BOGUS and deny that there is a problem. It would be admitting the fault and perhaps introducing an alternative NewArrayAccess interface that defines &offsetGet(). So future code can use it without breaking old implementations. Test script: --------------- <?php class Test1 extends ArrayObject { } class Test2 extends ArrayObject { function offsetGet($key) { return parent::offsetGet($key); } } $t1 = new Test1(); $t1['huba'] = array('one','two'); $t1['huba'][] = 'three'; print_r($t1); $t2 = new Test2(); $t2['huba'] = array('one','two'); $t2['huba'][] = 'three'; print_r($t2); Expected result: ---------------- Test1 Object ( [huba] => Array ( [0] => one [1] => two [2] => three ) ) Test2 Object ( [huba] => Array ( [0] => one [1] => two [2] => three ) ) Actual result: -------------- Test1 Object ( [huba] => Array ( [0] => one [1] => two [2] => three ) ) Notice: Indirect modification of overloaded element of Test2 has no effect in F:\huba.php on line 17 Test2 Object ( [huba] => Array ( [0] => one [1] => two ) ) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Edit this bug report at http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=51622&edit=1