PHP 4.0 Bug #8972: Referenced variables and unset()

From: aulbach@unter.franken.de Operating system: Linux PHP version: 4.0.3pl1 PHP Bug Type: Scripting Engine problem Bug description: Referenced variables and unset() I found another bug (see id #8937) in connection with unset(). [Unset dosn´t work properly since august 1999] <? function test(&$bla) { unset($bla); $bla="huhu"; } $bla="HIHI"; test($bla); echo $bla; ?> This will return "HIHI" instead of an expected "" or "huhu". This bug exists cause unset() unsets the reference to $bla, not $bla itself. This also depends the GLOBAL-statement (see #8937)! This is a bug, cause it is against the PHP-concept of making no big difference between reference and value [ $bla=1; $hugo=&$bla; $hugo=2 is in the sight of $bla the same as $bla=1; $bla=2; ] If I want to delete &$bla the correct expression is unset(&$bla). unset($bla) has always to delete the value and all references to it. (that's just my opinion :-) A fix of this bug will produce some compatibility problems with scripts, which has been written into PHP4 (cause the bug is very old). But a fix should be done, cause many developers won't mind, that unseting a reference is in the sight of PHP a completly other thing than unseting a value. There should be no/very less problems with upgrading PHP3-scripts. PS: Just a small thought. In autumn last year I programmed constructs like the following <? $bla=array(1,array(1,array(1,2,3),3),3); $ref=&$bla[2][2]; unset($ref); ?> And I wondered, that this won't work as expected. Now I know why. A correct solution would be to unset the inner array(1,2,3) and $ref... any other behaviour will break the mentioned handling of PHP. Thougth 2: <? $bla="HIHI"; $ref=&$bla; unset($ref); $ref="huhu"; ?> What is the correct value of $bla. "" (empty) or "huhu"? -- Edit Bug report at: http://bugs.php.net/?id=8972&edit=1