Req #70296 [NEW]: pass by reference: switch back to call time

From: o dot rijkers at gmail dot com Operating system: PHP version: Irrelevant Package: Unknown/Other Function Bug Type: Feature/Change Request Bug description:pass by reference: switch back to call time Description: ------------ In the latest version the pass by reference is moved to the function declaration: function myFunct(&$arg) {...} This results in several limitations: 1. the $arg argument can only be a call by reference. The pass by reference requirement may be dependent of the location where the function is called (I just run into this, hence this request), i.e. sometimes I just want to call myFunc($a); and I don't want $a to be changed. 2. it is not possible to pass an expression or literal as the first argument. 3. it is not possible to define a default value (other than null) and omit the argument when calling the function, e.g. myFunc(); It should never be the responsibility of a function to enforce a pass by reference. At best it could provide the option of a pass by reference argument. This greatly improves the flexibility, especially for library developers. Test script: --------------- function myFunc(&$arg = 1) {} function yourFunc($arg) {} myFunc($a); // no pass by reference as it is not desired myFunc(3); // no pass by reference as it is not desired myFunc(); // no pass by reference as it is not desired myfunc(&$a); // pass by reference as it is required by the caller and // the option of pass by reference is provided by the function yourFunc(&$a); // no pass by reference as this option is not provided by the // function declaration -- Edit bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=70296&edit=1 -- Try a snapshot (PHP 5.4): https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=70296&r=trysnapshot54 Try a snapshot (PHP 5.5): https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=70296&r=trysnapshot55 Try a snapshot (trunk): https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=70296&r=trysnapshottrunk Fixed in SVN: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=70296&r=fixed Fixed in release: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=70296&r=alreadyfixed Need backtrace: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=70296&r=needtrace Need Reproduce Script: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=70296&r=needscript Try newer version: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=70296&r=oldversion Not developer issue: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=70296&r=support Expected behavior: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=70296&r=notwrong Not enough info: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=70296&r=notenoughinfo Submitted twice: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=70296&r=submittedtwice register_globals: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=70296&r=globals PHP 4 support discontinued: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=70296&r=php4 Daylight Savings: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=70296&r=dst IIS Stability: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=70296&r=isapi Install GNU Sed: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=70296&r=gnused Floating point limitations: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=70296&r=float No Zend Extensions: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=70296&r=nozend MySQL Configuration Error: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=70296&r=mysqlcfg