Bug #62664 [NEW]: Passing inline-set variables by reference fails

From: katelyn dot schiesser at gmail dot com Operating system: Centos 6.2 PHP version: 5.3.15 Package: *General Issues Bug Type: Bug Bug description:Passing inline-set variables by reference fails Description: ------------ I apologize in advance if this has been reported elsewhere, I searched without finding anything. I have tested this on boxes running versions of PHP 5.3.13, and 5.3.3. [slowbro@node05 ~]$ php -v PHP 5.3.3 (cli) (built: Jul 3 2012 16:53:21) Copyright (c) 1997-2010 The PHP Group Zend Engine v2.3.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2010 Zend Technologies The issue is that I can't pass inline-set variables by reference. For example, this works: test($var='something'); ...but this doesn't: test(&$var='something'); Perhaps this is the way the engine works or something- but I would think it would be easy enough to (and make sense to) allow this. Test script: --------------- function test(&$var){ $var = 'something else'; } test(&$newvar='something'); echo $newvar; Expected result: ---------------- something else Actual result: -------------- PHP Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '=', expecting ')' in php shell code on line 1 -- Edit bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=62664&edit=1 -- Try a snapshot (PHP 5.4): https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=62664&r=trysnapshot54 Try a snapshot (PHP 5.3): https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=62664&r=trysnapshot53 Try a snapshot (trunk): https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=62664&r=trysnapshottrunk Fixed in SVN: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=62664&r=fixed Fixed in SVN and need be documented: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=62664&r=needdocs Fixed in release: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=62664&r=alreadyfixed Need backtrace: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=62664&r=needtrace Need Reproduce Script: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=62664&r=needscript Try newer version: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=62664&r=oldversion Not developer issue: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=62664&r=support Expected behavior: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=62664&r=notwrong Not enough info: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=62664&r=notenoughinfo Submitted twice: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=62664&r=submittedtwice register_globals: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=62664&r=globals PHP 4 support discontinued: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=62664&r=php4 Daylight Savings: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=62664&r=dst IIS Stability: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=62664&r=isapi Install GNU Sed: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=62664&r=gnused Floating point limitations: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=62664&r=float No Zend Extensions: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=62664&r=nozend MySQL Configuration Error: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=62664&r=mysqlcfg