Bug #68586 [NEW]: Variable losing memory address when used by function that passes by reference

From: hmdiana at gmail dot com Operating system: All PHP version: 5.4.35 Package: Scripting Engine problem Bug Type: Bug Bug description:Variable losing memory address when used by function that passes by reference Description: ------------ When inside a foreach and using a function that should get the variable passed by reference, that function changes the memory address of that variable so,instead of working with the original variable, it works with a copy of it and the original variable never get the changes we made. Test script: --------------- $things = array( 909 => array( 'name' => 'Colors', 'children' => array( 0 => array('name' => 'Yellow', 'id' => 855), 1 => array('name' => 'Blue', 'id' => 842), 2 => array('name' => 'Brown', 'id' => 843), 3 => array('name' => 'Red', 'id' => 856) ) ) ); foreach ($things as $thing) { if (isset($thing['children'])) { array_multisort($thing['children']); } } Expected result: ---------------- The array 'children' on alphabetical order, ordered by 'name': array (size=10) 909 => array (size=4) 'name' => string 'Colors' (length=9) 'children' => array (size=14) 0 => array (size=2) 'name' => string 'Blue' (length=9) 'id' => string '842' (length=3) 1 => array (size=2) 'name' => string 'Brown' (length=8) 'id' => string '843' (length=3) 2 => array (size=2) 'name' => string 'Red' (length=5) 'id' => string '856' (length=3) 3 => array (size=2) 'name' => string 'Yellow' (length=5) 'id' => string '855' (length=3) Actual result: -------------- The initial variable, as if nothing has changed: array (size=10) 909 => array (size=4) 'name' => string 'Colors' (length=9) 'children' => array (size=14) 0 => array (size=2) 'name' => string 'Yellow' (length=9) 'id' => string '855' (length=3) 1 => array (size=2) 'name' => string 'Blue' (length=8) 'id' => string '842' (length=3) 2 => array (size=2) 'name' => string 'Brown' (length=5) 'id' => string '843' (length=3) 3 => array (size=2) 'name' => string 'Red' (length=5) 'id' => string '856' (length=3) -- Edit bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=68586&edit=1 -- Try a snapshot (PHP 5.4): https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=68586&r=trysnapshot54 Try a snapshot (PHP 5.5): https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=68586&r=trysnapshot55 Try a snapshot (trunk): https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=68586&r=trysnapshottrunk Fixed in SVN: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=68586&r=fixed Fixed in release: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=68586&r=alreadyfixed Need backtrace: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=68586&r=needtrace Need Reproduce Script: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=68586&r=needscript Try newer version: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=68586&r=oldversion Not developer issue: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=68586&r=support Expected behavior: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=68586&r=notwrong Not enough info: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=68586&r=notenoughinfo Submitted twice: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=68586&r=submittedtwice register_globals: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=68586&r=globals PHP 4 support discontinued: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=68586&r=php4 Daylight Savings: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=68586&r=dst IIS Stability: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=68586&r=isapi Install GNU Sed: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=68586&r=gnused Floating point limitations: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=68586&r=float No Zend Extensions: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=68586&r=nozend MySQL Configuration Error: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=68586&r=mysqlcfg