Req #52215 [Com]: Add var_ref_count()
Edit report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=52215&edit=1
ID: 52215
Comment by: ky dot patterson at adlinkr 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
Block user comment: N
Private report: N
New Comment:
This cannot be done with a function.
The act of passing a variable to a function (by reference or by value) changes or replaces the
variable's zval.
So the refcount you will get is inaccurate -- and not just "off by 1", because zend may
copy the zval before it is passed to your function.
There are several other bugs that either ask for a refcount function, or ask for debug_zval_dump to
be "fixed" to support pass-by-reference, and all of them are not workable AFAIK:
https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=40011 Request
for refcount function
https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=52215 Add
var_ref_count()
https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=66455 Missing
function to determine refcount of variables directy
https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=53895
debug_zval_dump should be by ref
I *think* the solution is actually to add new language constructs, and I have opened a bug to
discuss that:
https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=67847
Previous Comments:
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[2012-09-23 22:09:51] chrisw at networkm dot co dot uk
The problem (such as it is) that this issue creates is larger in PHP 5.4. Because
call-time pass by reference now causes a fatal error, debug_zval_dump() is now
completely pointless (the data it can provide can obtained from var_dump()).
Either it should be removed and something like var_ref_count() should be added, or
it should be altered to take it's argument by reference.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[2011-05-09 19:07:17] thegreatall at gmail dot com
I recently wrote a simple modification to the php source, which returns the
number of references linked to a variable. It does suffer from the same problem
that debug_zval_dump suffers from, but it is simply always +1 than what you
expect. Aadding a note in the documentation saying "The value will always be 1
more than the actual reference count." or just -1 from the returned value should
work.
If there's even a chance that this would be reviewed and possibly added into
php's source, I would be happy to make a patch for it. This function may not
seem critical, but I developed a framework that does allot of class recycling
and it would be nice to have the ability to figure out what variables it can
release, and a function like this or what I wrote would be HUGE in terms of
memory management. A conversion script I wrote uses upwards of 1-3 gigs of ram
if I recycle variables, but I could reduce that number to <10 megs if I could
figure out what variables are free'able. The workaround I have to work with now
is to either "guess" what isn't being used (which is almost always wrong) or to
not use any object recycling which is alot slower because it needs to initiate a
new object every time, and you can have 2 different objects to the same data
(which the huge downside to it is that there can be 2 objects for the same
record/data).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[2010-07-01 13:44:40] derick@php.net
This won't work, for the same reason that debug_zval_dump() is flawed. By passing a variable to
a function, you mess with the refcount/is_ref values. Xdebug's xdebug_debug_zval()
(http://xdebug.org/docs/all_functions#xdebug_debug_zval) goes around that by looking up the symbol
directly (but it doesn't support array elements directly).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[2010-07-01 03:49:32] dtajchreber@php.net
http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.debug-zval-dump.php
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[2010-07-01 03:34:42] dev at alepe dot com
Please excuse me if I have some theoretical misconceptions or if my English is not very good.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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the rest of the comments, please view the bug report online at
https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=52215
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