Req #52215 [Opn]: Add var_ref_count()
Edit report at http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=52215&edit=1
ID: 52215
User updated by: dev at alepe dot com
Reported by: dev at alepe dot com
Summary: Add var_ref_count()
Status: Open
Type: Feature/Change Request
Package: Variables related
Operating System: Any
PHP Version: 5.3.3RC1
New Comment:
Please excuse me if I have some theoretical misconceptions or if my
English is not very good.
Previous Comments:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[2010-07-01 03:33:03] dev at alepe dot com
Description:
------------
It seems there is no easy way to know if an object/array/... is
reference.
Looking at the source code of ext/standard/var.c it seems it may be not
so hard to add that function. As debug_zval_dump already outputs the
reference count, it would be better to obtain that value in order to
determine if an object is referenced or not. Maybe something like (I'm
not C programmer):
PHPAPI void php_var_ref_count(zval **struc)
{
return Z_REFCOUNT_PP(struc);
}
Knowing the reference count may be helpful to:
- make copies of a structure without references
- remove variables that have more than 1 reference (safe remove)
- remove variables that are not referenced (unused values)
- prevent modifying a variable that is referenced
I believe there must be more applications but these are the ones I can
think of.
(background:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3148125/php-check-if-object-array-is-a-reference)
Test script:
---------------
<?php
$en = array("a" => "apple", "b" => "banana");
$es = array("a" => "manzana", "b" => "platano");
$dict = array(
"Eng" => $en,
"Esp" => $es,
"Non" => array("a" => "A", "b" => "B")
);
echo var_ref_count($dict["Eng"]);
echo " # ";
echo var_ref_count($dict["Non"]);
?>
Expected result:
----------------
2 # 1
Actual result:
--------------
None (inexistent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Edit this bug report at http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=52215&edit=1
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