Bug #72779 [NEW]: Passing an array by reference creates references of its values

From: lars dot schultz at toolpark dot com Operating system: Linux PHP version: 7.0.9 Package: Variables related Bug Type: Bug Bug description:Passing an array by reference creates references of its values Description: ------------ PHP Version 7.0.3-1~dotdeb+8.1 Passing the content of an array by reference, replaces the content with a reference to it. Getting expected behaviour in the following Versions: PHP Version 5.3.3-7+squeeze23 PHP Version 5.4.45 Test script: --------------- function sub(&$data){} $data = array(); sub($data['nested']); echo serialize(array($data,$data)); Expected result: ---------------- a:2:{i:0;a:1:{s:6:"nested";N;}i:1;a:1:{s:6:"nested";N;}} Actual result: -------------- a:2:{i:0;a:1:{s:6:"nested";N;}i:1;a:1:{s:6:"nested";R:3;}} -- Edit bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=72779&edit=1 -- Try a snapshot (PHP 5.4): https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72779&r=trysnapshot54 Try a snapshot (PHP 5.5): https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72779&r=trysnapshot55 Try a snapshot (trunk): https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72779&r=trysnapshottrunk Fixed in SVN: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72779&r=fixed Fixed in release: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72779&r=alreadyfixed Need backtrace: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72779&r=needtrace Need Reproduce Script: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72779&r=needscript Try newer version: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72779&r=oldversion Not developer issue: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72779&r=support Expected behavior: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72779&r=notwrong Not enough info: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72779&r=notenoughinfo Submitted twice: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72779&r=submittedtwice register_globals: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72779&r=globals PHP 4 support discontinued: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72779&r=php4 Daylight Savings: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72779&r=dst IIS Stability: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72779&r=isapi Install GNU Sed: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72779&r=gnused Floating point limitations: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72779&r=float No Zend Extensions: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72779&r=nozend MySQL Configuration Error: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=72779&r=mysqlcfg