#23359 [Opn->Bgs]: Passing by reference oddity

ID: 23359 Updated by: sniper@php.net Reported By: chen at hivemail dot com -Status: Open +Status: Bogus Bug Type: Variables related Operating System: Windows XP PHP Version: 4CVS-2003-04-26 (stable) New Comment: Not bug: http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.references.pass.php Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2003-04-26 06:06:00] chen at hivemail dot com Ok... I'll try my best to explain the problem. I have the following function: function fixdate(&$month, &$year) { if ($month < 1) { $month = 12; $year--; } elseif ($month > 12) { $month = 1; $year++; } } So far so good, the function itself works ok. But when I try to do the following: fixdate($prevmonth = ($month - 1), $prevyear = $year); I get this error: Fatal error: Only variables can be passed by reference in C:\foo.php on line 181 However, this code works as expected: fixdate($prevmonth = ($month - 1), $prevyear = ($year + 0)); You'd expect the first code ($prevyear = $year) to work as well, wouldn't you? The reason I use $prevyear = $year and not just pass $year is because I need to keep the value of $year after the function has executed. This might be related to the way PHP copies variables, I'm not sure. If you need any more information, let me know. :) Thanks, Chen ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Edit this bug report at http://bugs.php.net/?id=23359&edit=1