Bug #15273: Reference to array breaks

From: mvl@nikhef.nl Operating system: Linux PHP version: 4.1.1 PHP Bug Type: Arrays related Bug description: Reference to array breaks Hi, Below you will find a piece of code which is intended to make two two-dimensional arrays: $aa and $bb. In fact, both arrays should be the same, as far as I can see. It seems however that the unset($b_nw) is crucial. As far as I understood from the documentation, an assignement with an arrray on the right-hand side should perfrom a copy of the array. My assumption is that the same should be true with a reference to an array, because there is no way to distinguish between them. So please have a look at my code and tell me when you need more information, or if I misunderstood something. The code: <?php $a=array(0); $b=array(0); $aa=array(&$a); $bb=array(&$b); for ($i=1; $i<3; $i++) { $a_nw=$a; $a_nw[]=$i; $aa[]=&$a_nw; $b_nw=$b; $b_nw[]=$i; $bb[]=&$b_nw; unset($b_nw); } echo "<b>aa: </b>"; print_r($aa); echo "<br>\n"; echo "<b>bb: </b>"; print_r($bb); echo "<br>\n"; ?> The output: aa: Array ( [0] => Array ( [0] => 0 ) [1] => Array ( [0] => 0 [1] => 2 ) [2] => Array ( [0] => 0 [1] => 2 ) ) bb: Array ( [0] => Array ( [0] => 0 ) [1] => Array ( [0] => 0 [1] => 1 ) [2] => Array ( [0] => 0 [1] => 2 ) ) Note that $aa[1] != $bb[1], which is unexepected ($bb[1] is the correct value, I think). Thanks, Marco. -- Edit bug report at: http://bugs.php.net/?id=15273&edit=1